Heat Stroke
by Mnemosyne's Elegy
Summary: When the team decides to take a job out in the desert, Gray is reluctant to commit. That is, until Natsu starts teasing him and his stubborn streak flares up. Now a challenge has been issued and Gray isn't going to back down...not even if it kills him.
1. A challenge is issued

**Note: Yay, I finally finished another multichapter :3**

 **Before we get started, I have one quick thing to say. Today is my one-year anniversary of writing FT fanfics. Break out the confetti! Joking, joking. But it got me thinking. In one year, I've written roughly 690,000 words of FT fanfics (because I have no life XD), and I'm still going strong even though I expected to lose inspiration and motivation a long time ago. Even better, I've met a lot of really awesome people around here and it occurred to me that this would be a good time to say thanks. Not even so much for the reviews/favs/follows, although those are great and I always appreciate them. I'm more humbled by the general support I've received and all the interesting people I've met in this community. Some of you guys have been with me almost this whole time, some are new, some have never directly spoken to me, some R &R religiously, some only pop up sporadically, some just like to troll me sometimes ;) Regardless, I'm grateful to all of you, and seeing as Thanksgiving is coming up later this week, it seemed like the perfect time to express that. And what better way to celebrate an anniversary than to start posting another multichapter? XD**

 **So happy sort-of-almost Thanksgiving, guys. Thanks for being awesome :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _(In which a challenge is issued.)_

* * *

When Erza suggested that the team take a job since they hadn't been out together in a couple of weeks, Natsu was the first one to the request board, already calling dibs on picking the job. He expected protests from Gray at least—the ice block usually took such a declaration as a challenge or personal affront and would pick out a different job so that the pair could spend twenty minutes arguing over which one to take—but the ice mage just shrugged indifferently and continued talking to Lucy. That was actually rather disappointing. Natsu always liked getting a rise out of his rival and was itching for a good fight.

Then a sly grin spread over his face and he perked up again. If Gray wasn't going to fight him on this, then Natsu could pick whatever job he wanted. And if that job happened to be picked out for the sole purpose of maximizing his friend's annoyance… Well, Gray should have known better than to let Natsu have free rein over job selection.

Smirking wickedly, he combed through the requests pinned to the board. Instead of just grabbing one at random like he was often prone to do, he carefully considered his options. The last job Gray had picked out for them had been all the way at the top of Mt. Hakobe, and he had laughed at a shivering Natsu the whole time. The time before that, Gray had made sure to pick a job in a city that was several hours away by train. Oh, he claimed that he had chosen it for the reward money and not because of the long train ride, but Natsu knew better.

This was his chance for revenge, and he was going to make the most of it. So he took his time, forcing himself to look over the requests with far more patience than he usually possessed. Then he paused, his smirk taking on a distinctly malevolent edge. He hesitated for a second because this job was also quite far by train, but it would be totally worth it to see Gray's face. Snickering, Natsu ripped the request off the board and headed over to where the rest of the team was chatting.

Gray glanced up at Natsu's approach, and his initial bored expression morphed into wary caution as he noticed the dragon slayer's smugness.

"I picked us a job," Natsu announced, keeping his eyes on Gray's face as he slammed the request onto the table in the middle of the group.

Gray continued to regard Natsu suspiciously for a moment, but then glanced down at the paper. Natsu watched his dark eyes dart back and forth rapidly across the page as he quickly read the details. Gray's eyes widened slightly and he pressed his lips into a tight line before voicing his protest.

"Oh hell no," he ground out. "I'll sit this one out."

"Why?" Natsu asked, his smile sharpening and taking on a predatory edge. "Scared of a little heat?"

Gray's eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted into a scowl.

"I don't know, Natsu," Lucy interrupted with a frown, her eyes shining with uncertainty as she cast a worried look at Gray. "I'm not sure that a desert is a good idea."

"He's not made of ice," Natsu said dismissively. "He won't melt in the heat."

"But with his magic…"  
Gray snorted derisively and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not just my magic. I grew up in Isvan, which is known for having arctic temperatures. It was plenty cold year-round and that was normal for me. And then with Ur's unconventional training techniques…" His eyes dimmed for a split second before he rallied again. "I pretty much trained half-naked in the snow and ice up on a mountain. I've acclimatized to milder temperatures like the ones we get around here and I can handle extremely low temperatures, but I don't do so well with high ones. I'm not going to melt or anything, but my body isn't as well-equipped to withstand high temperatures and I get uncomfortable quickly."

"Aw, is the ice princess too delicate to handle the heat?" Natsu teased, his voice taking on a mocking edge.

Gray glared at him, and Erza quickly stepped in before things got out of control.

"That's enough of that, Natsu," she said, giving him a quelling look. "If Gray's going to be uncomfortable in the desert, then we can just pick a different job."

Instead of looking vindicated, Gray's scowl deepened and his eyes flashed with annoyance. Natsu resisted the urge to grin. Erza had unknowingly played right into his plan. She hadn't meant to suggest that Gray was weak or incapable of doing the job, but he was already irritable and defensive. Under normal circumstances Gray would have probably just laughed it off, but right now it only served to aggravate him even more.

"You guys can go ahead and do the job," Gray grumbled, frowning at the tabletop in front of him. "I'll just take a solo job."

Natsu was actually a little impressed. Gray apparently found the desert aversive enough that he wouldn't volunteer to go despite his injured pride, and that was really saying something.

Erza was already shaking her head. "We haven't done a team job in weeks," she said firmly. "I said that we were going to take a job as a team, and I meant it."

"No one protested when I said that I was picking the job," Natsu complained.

"Yes, yes, you can pick the job." Erza ran a hand through her hair, looking partly frazzled and partly irritated. "But not this one. Go pick another one."

Natsu wasn't going to give up that easily. "I didn't complain when he picked that job on Mt. Hakobe," he muttered mutinously. "Or when he picked that one that seriously took _forever_ to get to by train."

"Yes, you did," Lucy said dryly. "You complained the entire time. On both jobs."

"Oh, for crying out loud."

Natsu whipped his head around to look at Gray again, whose expression had darkened even further.

"You can stop with this whole innocent act," Gray continued coldly. "Did you forget how you dragged me out to one of the hottest towns in this area in the middle of a heat wave a few months ago? Or when you deliberately withheld information from me in that job at Hargeon just so that I'd make a fool of myself?" He snorted. "You can complain about Mt. Hakobe, but don't act like it was so unprovoked. Okay, when it's our turn to pick jobs we sometimes choose them to annoy each other. That's fine and good, but I don't do deserts. You can do this one without me."

Natsu rubbed at his nose sheepishly. It was true that this was hardly the first time he had picked a job to annoy Gray. Yeah, he still wanted revenge for Mt. Hakobe and that extra-long train ride, but he had to admit that he himself was hardly an innocent victim here. This whole thing was really just one small part of a larger war between the two rivals. It was mostly good-natured and was just another way for them to rib each other—and yes, they _did_ enjoy getting on each other's nerves from time to time—but Natsu had taken particular offense at those last couple jobs Gray had picked.

Still, was a desert going too far? Natsu considered it briefly and then shrugged it off. Gray wouldn't enjoy it, but it wasn't like he couldn't handle it. He'd complain a lot, but ultimately there would be no harm done. Natsu didn't know why he was making such a big deal out of it.

"Okay, that's true," Natsu conceded. "But sending me on an eight-hour train ride was uncalled for."

"Oh, for the love of–!" Gray threw his hands up, dark eyes flashing angrily. "I already told you that I didn't pick the job because of that! The reward was good and the job seemed interesting. It was in some little remote town I'd never heard of before. I didn't even know how far away it was until we got to the train station and bought the tickets, and none of you realized how far it would be until then either. Given what an annoying jerk you are I might have picked it anyway if I'd known, but I didn't know at the time."

Natsu rolled his eyes. That was Gray's story and he was apparently sticking to it. A niggling doubt in the back of his mind warned that Gray's explanation made sense and he wouldn't be so angry right now if he was lying, but Natsu conveniently ignored it. Even if the eight-hour trip hadn't been intentionally malicious, it was still Natsu's turn to pick the job and he wanted to irritate Gray.

However, he wasn't exactly getting anywhere arguing with his friend like this. It was time to change tactics.

"Oh, alright," Natsu said, his voice suddenly mild. Gray immediately looked suspicious at the abrupt change of tone, and for good reason. "We wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable. If you don't think that you can handle the desert, then I'll go pick another job."

He started to turn away as if to head back toward the job board, hiding a satisfied smirk. One step, then two, then three. He started to worry that maybe he had miscalculated after all, and began mentally berating himself for messing things up when he'd had such a perfect setup. But then he heard Gray's irritable exhale behind him and knew that he had won.

"Whatever," the ice mage growled. "Let's go do the damn job."

Natsu spun back around and rejoined the group by the table, a new, triumphant spring in his step. He was careful not to let too much of his smugness show on his face in case Gray got annoyed enough to renege, but it was hard to contain his glee.

Gray looked considerably less pleased than Natsu. His face was carefully blank and his expression almost perfectly neutral, but his eyes burned with the anger and resentment of someone who recognized that he was being manipulated but was trapped and couldn't back down. Oh well, he'd get over it soon enough. Gray and Natsu fought like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day they rarely stayed seriously mad at each other for long periods of time.

"Are you sure?" Natsu asked, the barest hint of mock concern tinging his voice. "We wouldn't want you to be _uncomfortable_. But maybe this isn't such a good idea after all. It won't be much fun to listen to you complaining the whole time. I don't think you'll be able to complete the mission without fainting like the delicate ice princess you are or whining at us all the entire trip. Maybe a different job would be better…"

Gray's impassive mask slipped as he scowled at the dragon slayer. "Is that a challenge?" he demanded.

Natsu couldn't stop his lips from curling upwards in triumph. He'd gotten Gray now. There was no way he would back down from this.

"Do you want it to be?"

Gray's nostrils flared, but he looked away and glowered at the floor. Natsu wasn't sure if he was planning on responding, but if he was then Erza beat him to the punch.

"Natsu, stop playing childish games," the requip mage said tiredly. "Gray already made it clear that he didn't want to go. Why can't you just pick out a job that everyone would be okay with? This silly feud of yours is getting old."

Natsu opened his mouth to convince Erza to change her mind—he had already trapped Gray into agreeing to go and there was no way in hell he was going to let Erza throw a wrench in his perfectly-laid plans now—but surprisingly, he didn't have to.

"It doesn't matter," Gray said, wiping some of the irritation off his face with great difficulty. "I said that I'd go, so let's go already."

Natsu hid another grin. Now that a challenge had been issued, Gray would stick it out to the bitter end. Even Erza couldn't stop this now. She sighed and shook her head in exasperation.

"Are you sure?" she asked resignedly.

"Yeah." Gray tried to smile reassuringly, but the expression was too sharp and feral from his pent-up irritation with Natsu. "It won't be the most fun job ever, but it shouldn't be that bad. I mean, we just have to go beat up a dark guild and recover some artifact, right? Should only take a couple days and then we'll be back again. No biggie."

Funny, considering how adamant Gray had been about how terrible this job would be. Natsu reflected that it was actually amazing how easy it could be to manipulate Gray at times, conveniently ignoring the fact that he was just as easy to manipulate when people appealed to his pride or stubbornness.

"But–" Lucy started.

"It's fine," Gray interrupted.

"He already said he'd go," Natsu added, shifting impatiently. "If the ice block thinks he can handle it, who are we to stop him?"

Gray looked back at Natsu, his scowl returning full force. "I hope you know that you're the most infuriating, stupid, annoying–"

"Now, now, stripper," Natsu said cheerfully, his eyes sparkling with amusement, "no complaining, remember?"

"The job hasn't started yet, idiot."

"I can already tell that this is going to be a fun trip," Lucy said with a sigh.

"Actually, it will be." Natsu's grin widened. "After all, Gray's not going to be complaining, is he?"

Gray's grimace deepened and he muttered something horribly uncomplimentary under his breath. Natsu snickered.

"Fighting isn't exactly complaining," Lucy pointed out.

"I think I can handle it," Natsu said confidently.

"That's not what we're worried about," Erza grumbled, still looking displeased with the whole situation. "You two will be the death of me."

Natsu smiled winningly, but Lucy spoke up before he could say anything.

"Actually, I think they'll be the death of each other first," she disagreed, shaking her head.

Natsu laughed good-naturedly. That was probably true. Beside him, Gray suddenly perked up as well. He smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant expression—it was all sharp edges and vindictive satisfaction.

"At least it's a five-hour train ride to the village," he said, finally finding something to be smug about. "Too bad you're too delicate to handle trains well. I suppose it's a good thing that listening to your pitiful whimpers and complaints is our favorite pastime."

Natsu rolled his eyes, but didn't let Gray's sourness put a damper on his mood. The train ride would suck, but it would totally be worth it to get his rival into a desert. Gray could mock him all he wanted, but Natsu would have the last laugh.

"Well, good," Natsu said pleasantly. "I'll make sure to be extra loud for you, then. And I guess I might as well complain all I want, since I'll have to complain enough for the both of us."

Gray growled angrily in the back of his throat, but Natsu just grinned back. It wasn't often that he could get such a complete victory over his friend, and he was going to savor it for all it was worth. Gray would be bitter about it for a while, but once the job was over and he'd had some time to cool off—figuratively and literally—he would get over himself. Although Natsu would have to be careful for a while, because he would definitely get his revenge eventually. But for now Natsu would just revel in his win and congratulate himself for managing to back Gray into a corner.

"Enough, you two," Erza said firmly, fixing the bickering friends with a hard look. "There will be absolutely no fighting on this job. We'll meet at the train station at eight in the morning tomorrow. Then it will be a long ride to the client village, and when we get there we'll listen to what they have to say, do the job, and get out. Natsu, make sure you tell Happy the plan."

"Sure thing," Natsu said, still cheerful.

Giving Gray one last infuriating grin, he turned to walk away, only pausing for a second when Erza spoke up again.

"Natsu, I meant it when I said no fighting," the requip mage said meaningfully. "You two can work out your issues later, but on this trip you will not provoke Gray in any way. Your behavior is childish enough already."

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much," Gray snapped. "He can do whatever the hell he wants. I don't care."

"See, Erza?" Natsu asked happily. "Gray doesn't care if I provoke or tease him. You worry too much."

"This is not going to end well," Erza said with a weary sigh.

Natsu just snickered and headed over to where Happy was harassing—or flirting with, if you were inclined to view it as such—Charle. He couldn't wait to fill the Exceed in, and there was a new bounce in his step as he happily considered all the ways he could annoy Gray, starting bright and early tomorrow. He silently applauded himself for not only forcing his rival into such a position but also managing to clip his fangs for as long as the job lasted. Gray might never be in such a vulnerable position again, and Natsu was going to take full advantage of it. He smirked victoriously.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

 **Note:**

 **FAQ:**

 **What genre is this story? -** The dominant genre switches sometimes, but there's humor (more than you'd expect from me), plenty of friendship, angst, and a bunch of hurt/comfort later.

 **Are there any pairings? -** As per usual, no. But read whatever you want into it.

 **How does this story fit in with canon? -** It doesn't have an explicit place in the canon timeline. Judging by certain references I make, it would have to take place after Tenrou. Other than that, it doesn't matter that much.

 **So, I heard there was some kind of weird POV thing...? -** No you didn't—I didn't tell anyone XD But yeah, I did something a little different this time. The chapters alternate POV between Natsu and Gray. Odd chapters are Natsu's, evens are Gray's. It was kind of a pain because it led to a lot of pacing issues and rearranging of events, but in the end I think it was worth it.

 **How long is this? -** Originally it was supposed to be a short 4 or 5 chapter story. Ah, past-me was so naively optimistic lol Now it's 16 chapters.

 **So what does the posting schedule look like? -** Posting schedule? What posting schedule? Uh, so I know that when I post chaptered stories, I usually have an every-three-days posting schedule. That might not happen this time. Usually it works fine, but I got really overwhelmed while editing and posting "Stay", and I don't want that kind of pressure again. Updates will still be frequent since I've already written the first draft of this story, but I'm not going to worry about adhering to such a strict schedule this time. Sorry. Updates should come every three to five days, I'd think.

 **A flower? Really? -** Yeah...Sorry. I– Hey, wait a minute, wrong story! Go back to "Stay" where you belong -_- Sorry guys, no flowers in this one :3

 **emmahoshi: Ha ha, no, only a year. It does feel like it's been a long time though, doesn't it? XD Yeah, these guys are pretty childish sometimes, especially Natsu. You can blame Mashima for that one. I could totally see them turning _everything_ into a competition or way to annoy each other. Miraculous rainy season XD Well, in practice it just amounted to me writing each chapter in the other POV as the previous one so it wasn't that complicated, except for trying to figure out how to arrange events and everything. It did give me some problems though. I wouldn't have done it if this story hadn't needed it. Yeah, I was born up north but have lived down in the heat for most of my life, and I've never gotten used to it x.x Gray can suffer with me, ha ha.**


	2. Everyone is conspiring against Natsu

**Note: Okay, time to come clean. When I started writing this story, I didn't really have much of a plot in mind. As such, the first few chapters are a little...meandering. If I was starting this over again I would do things differently, but the way I set everything up makes it really hard to just go around rearranging things. Once the chapters start getting longer and having more substance, that's the point where I made up a plot XD**

 **Also, a random little story for you. I've recently commandeered the hashtag #AngstForLife (which makes no sense since I don't do any of that newfangled tweeterizing stuff or anything that actually involves hashtags lol), and I told my sister the other day. Her response was, "oh, it should be #AngstaLife. You know, like 'gangsta life'?" To which I immediately burst out laughing and decided that it would be my new tagline. Not that I have anything to use hashtags on, but I thought it was pretty funny XD**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 _(In which everyone is conspiring against Natsu, who is painfully oblivious.)_

* * *

Gray was the first one at the train station the next morning. Normally he had no problem showing up a little late—he and Natsu had something of a running competition to see who could show up the latest to jobs without provoking Erza's wrath, and although Natsu usually showed up the latest, Gray usually won because he had an uncanny ability to arrive at the last possible second before Erza got annoyed enough to chew him out—but today was different. He had originally considered showing up extra late in protest, but he wasn't sure if that might count as 'complaining'. He wasn't taking any chances.

In any case, he had arrived earlier than usual so that he had a chance to collect himself before the flame-brained idiot showed up. He wasn't sure how far he could push Natsu without forfeiting the challenge, so he had decided that he was going to be as unaggressive as possible. It would be hard, but there was no way he was going to lose to that fool. Plus it would be funny to watch Natsu get frustrated when he couldn't get a rise out of him.

Gray was still irritated with Natsu—who wouldn't be?—but he'd had some time to calm down and he was trying to keep it that way for now. It still rubbed him the wrong way that Natsu had manipulated him into going on this job, but he wasn't as furious as he had been yesterday. Okay, so maybe he had spent a couple hours last night pacing around his apartment while railing against Natsu and planning out half a dozen ways to get revenge, but he hadn't been as upset when he woke up this morning. After all, the desert would suck, but it wasn't like it was the worst thing he had ever done.

Still, he was painfully aware that the last time he had been in a desert was on a solo job where he had gotten himself lost and had wandered half-delirious through the burning sands for days before fortuitously stumbling across a group of travelers that gave him water and pointed him in the right direction. He'd never told any of his friends about that because it had been a rather embarrassing experience and Natsu never would have let him live it down, and he certainly wouldn't tell them now because it would sound like he was making excuses to get out of this job. Besides, this time would be different. He wasn't going to be on his own, and Erza wasn't going to let them get lost. Everything would be just peachy.

In fact, there was nothing at all to worry about—he had just overreacted when he had seen the word 'desert'. He'd be miserable in the heat, but he could handle it. He'd handle it and he'd definitely win this challenge, just because Natsu didn't think he could do it. Natsu fully expected him to start falling behind on this mission, but Gray would prove him wrong. And then afterwards, Gray would get him back for this. If Natsu had thought Mt. Hakobe was bad…

He shook his head to banish those thoughts. He'd get Natsu back, but later. For now he just needed to think happy, calming thoughts so that he wouldn't strangle his idiot friend when he arrived. As satisfying as planning out his revenge would be, it wouldn't help Gray get in the right mindset for this.

He spotted Erza and Lucy headed his way, chatting amiably. Good. Now they just had to wait for Natsu and Happy, and they could be on their way. Despite his reservations, Gray was eager to get going. He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

Pushing away from the wall he had been leaning against, he waved at the girls.

Lucy's eyebrows shot upward as she noticed him. "Wow, you're here early, Gray."

"Maybe I've finally managed to teach one of them punctuality!" Erza said, her eyes sparkling with pride and excitement.

Gray mentally apologized. This newfound punctuality was not here to stay, but he didn't want to burst her bubble just yet.

"Um, yeah…" he mumbled awkwardly, before shrugging it off. "Let's see how long it takes our resident idiot and his sidekick to get here."

He frowned, wondering if insults counted as complaining. They really shouldn't. He and Natsu insulted each other and used dumb nicknames all the time. Gray wasn't sure if he could lose the habit even if he tried, although he'd try to tone it down a little just in case. He was taking no chances, and Natsu would be looking for even the most minor slipup to make a big deal about.

"Way too long," Lucy said with a sigh. "I swear the two of you make it into a competition to see who can get here the latest." Gray gave her a flat stare, and after a moment her eyes widened. "Wait, _do_ you do that?"

Gray rolled his eyes and shrugged. He and Natsu didn't make a big deal over who won these silly games—mostly because one of them was usually getting scolded none too gently by an irate Erza so the gloating had to wait until later—but it wasn't like they made a huge secret of it.

"Sort of," he said. "Except that I usually win."

"But Natsu is usually later, isn't he?"

Gray allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. "Yes, but he usually gets chewed out by Erza, which disqualifies him."

Lucy stared at him wordlessly, slowly shaking her head. Then she turned to Erza.

"Can you believe this? How did I never figure this out?" She paused and her frown deepened as she took in the smug expression on Erza's face. "Wait, did you know about this?"

"Of course," the requip mage said dismissively. "Honestly, Lucy, it's not like it's a secret."

"Did you know about the disqualification rule too?"

Erza nodded. "Of course. It took me a little while to catch on, but I figured it out eventually. It amuses me to no end. Not only do I still get to lecture them for being late, but I also get to choose who wins their silly competitions."

Gray smothered a laugh. He had suspected for a while now that Erza had figured out the disqualification rule and sometimes used it to her advantage.

"You usually end up lecturing Natsu…" Lucy said slowly, puzzling things out.

Erza smiled, her eyes sparkling wickedly. "Yes, well Natsu annoys me more because he's usually later. I could probably just lecture the both of them like I used to so that neither wins, but…" Her smile sharpened. "Sometimes I'm a little biased."

This time Gray _did_ start laughing. He had suspected that too.

"I'm a little surprised that Natsu hasn't figured out that you're playing him yet," he said with a grin. "I keep waiting for him to, but so far he's as oblivious as usual."

"That's what makes it so fun," Erza replied, chuckling.

"I never realized that you stooped so low to mess with their games," Lucy said. Erza just shrugged and looked suitably unchastened, and the blonde eyed her and Gray suspiciously. "You two aren't scheming in this together, are you?"

"Nah." Gray rolled his eyes. "We don't have to. I just play the game and Erza referees as she sees fit. If she wants to mess with Natsu, then I don't complain."

"Are you sure that he hasn't figured it out already?" Lucy asked. "I mean, you seem to have guessed that she was messing with you guys, but you never said anything. Maybe he's just keeping quiet too."

Gray threw his head back and laughed. "Natsu? Quiet? Oh no, I'll know when he figures it out. We'll _all_ know, believe you me. He'll kick up a big fuss about it, complain nonstop for an hour or two, and then forget all about it. That's how he works. I haven't said anything because I'm looking forward to seeing his tantrum when he figures it out himself. _If_ he ever does. He's not terribly observant."

Lucy let out a long-suffering sigh and muttered something about the childish people she had to work with, but Erza had sobered and was watching Gray cautiously. He stared back and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Speaking of Natsu being unobservant," Erza said, "I'm not sure he really realizes how much you don't want to come on this job." She tilted her head and studied Gray as if she was trying to puzzle something out. "I don't know why you're so opposed to this aside from the obvious reasons, but it's clear that there's something you aren't telling us. I don't know what that might be, but if it's really that bad then just tell me and I'll call this whole thing off and take care of Natsu for you."

Gray sighed, his amusement fading. There wasn't anything as major as Erza seemed to be assuming, but it was true that he was wary of deserts. He had almost died the last time he was in one, and he'd been in a couple deserts before that too and hadn't fared much better. He honestly had terrible luck with deserts.

Even though he hadn't lived in Isvan for a decade now, his body had never really adjusted to heat. He tried to keep the extent of that deficiency hidden so that Natsu couldn't tease him about it, and because it made him feel irritable and weak.

But honestly, he wasn't weak and he could handle heat for a few days. Natsu hadn't had any problems with the jobs on Mt. Hakobe, had he? Gray was definitely as tough as Natsu. No way was that idiot going to beat him out like that.

"It'll be fine. I just overreacted, that's all—Natsu annoys me when he thinks he's so clever manipulating me into doing things." He smiled reassuringly at the girls. "It's no biggie, really. We'll be in and out of the desert in a couple of days, no harm done." His eyes hardened. "Besides, that idiot issued a challenge, and I'm not going to listen to him gloat for the next month."

"I should've known it was going to come back to the challenge again," Erza grumbled. "All the same, if you're having too much trouble…"

"Sure," Gray said, giving her a lazy smile.

In truth, he had a feeling that he wouldn't say anything unless something was really, _really_ wrong. He wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed for his pride, but he wasn't going to pull the plug on their mission unless there was a damn good reason for it. Mostly for pride, yes. And also because Natsu would never let him live it down. So really just pride.

Erza didn't look convinced and opened her mouth again, but that was the moment Gray spotted Natsu and Happy walking towards them.

"'Morning, flame brain," he drawled.

He didn't even feel much of an urge to make a derogatory comment, which was a major improvement from yesterday. He was pleased with his self-restraint. Despite his lingering irritation, Gray really wasn't all that mad anymore.

Natsu grinned and bounded over, Happy trailing behind him. "Oh, you're already here, ice princess? I thought you'd be too scared and make a run for it, and I'd have to go hunt you down."

Of course, that could always change.

Gray valiantly pushed aside the flare of anger that accompanied Natsu's mocking, and smiled brightly instead. He was gratified to see his friend's smug grin immediately morph into a look of disconcerted bewilderment.

"No, I figured I'd spare you the trouble," Gray said cheerfully, being careful not to let his smile sharpen. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

Natsu recoiled, looking so thoroughly unsettled that it was difficult for Gray to resist the urge to laugh. If he'd known that all he had to do to throw Natsu off his game was to be nice every once in a while, he might have tried it sooner. The girls also looked baffled at the sudden change in demeanor, which was an added bonus.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Natsu demanded.

"Nothing," Gray replied, his tone upbeat and sunny. "Everything is great."

There was silence for several long moments as Gray smiled cheerfully at the others, who all looked thoroughly disconcerted. The temptation to laugh in their faces was almost overwhelming, but he kept the unwavering smile in place and said nothing else. Erza was the first to shake herself out of her confused daze, and promptly snapped everyone else out of it as well by turning on Natsu.

"And just where have you been?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips and directing a fearsome glare Natsu's way. "Why do you always have to be late to team jobs?"

Already off balance from Gray's unexpected behavior, Natsu reeled back from this newest assault and looked so pathetically confused that Gray almost wanted to pat him on the head and tell him that things would be okay. But mostly, he just wanted to laugh.

"But we're here on time today!" Natsu protested. He looked to Happy for help and the little cat nodded vigorously.

In fact, Natsu and Happy actually _were_ on time for once. Being the cynical person he was—and knowing his friend too well—Gray suspected that Natsu was only here early because he had been so impatient to start gloating.

Erza's scowl deepened and Gray glanced off to the side to hide his smile.

"Everyone else is already here," she snapped. "Even _Gray_ was here early so that we could leave, but we've been stuck waiting for you! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Natsu and Happy exchanged helpless glances.

"It was Happy's fault?" Natsu tried weakly.

"Hey!" the Exceed said, his little chest puffing out with indignation.

Gray met Lucy's eyes and, although she was shaking her head wearily at the team's antics, she gave him a small grin and he smiled back crookedly. They all bought their train tickets and boarded, listening to Erza scold Natsu the entire time. The dragon slayer looked small and forlorn as he meekly accepted the castigation, and it almost made the whole desert thing worth it. Almost.

When the train finally started moving and Natsu slumped over with a piteous groan, Erza finally let him be. Now that he was well and truly distracted with his nausea, she glanced over at Gray and Lucy and winked. Happy looked back and forth between the three of them.

"We really were on time," he said.

"Yes," Erza agreed pleasantly, settling back in her seat. "But when everyone else is early, on time is late."

"You're just messing with us again," the Exceed grumbled.

"Sometimes he needs to be taken down a notch."

Gray wondered if this out-of-the-blue chastisement was in part because Erza was still annoyed with Natsu for being such a jerk about picking this job. Well, he wasn't complaining—that would violate the rules of the challenge, after all. He wasn't going to do or say anything that could be even remotely construed as a complaint, but he was perfectly happy to let Erza do it for him.

Happy's words finally seemed to register with Lucy, who straightened in her seat to give him a disbelieving look. "Wait, you know that Erza's messing with Natsu, too?"

"Sure."

"And you didn't tell him?"

"Nope."

Lucy slumped back, shaking her head. "Am I the only one who never figured it out?"

Gray grinned. "Technically, no. Natsu still doesn't know."

"And we'd like to keep it that way, so keep your voice down," Happy added, nodding towards the almost comatose dragon slayer.

Lucy stared at the Exceed helplessly. "But… I get why Gray is messing with him, and even Erza to some extent, but…you? Why haven't you told him?"

Happy shrugged. "When I first figured it out I was going to tell him, but then he stole my fish so I decided not to." A hint of smugness gleamed in his eyes. "And every time after that when I considered telling him, something always happened or he annoyed me, so I never got around to it."

"I'm surrounded by immature, insane fools," Lucy sighed, leaning her head against the back of the seat and closing her eyes.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail," Gray said with a grin.

Lucy groaned and everyone else—aside from Natsu, who was not fully conscious—laughed.

"Well, since we're stuck on the train anyway, can someone remind me of what the job is?" she asked. "In all the excitement, I forgot most of the details."

"Usually I'd prefer to wait for Natsu to join the land of the living again first so that he'd get the benefit of the briefing too, but…" Erza shrugged. "We've got five hours to kill, so we might as well get this out of the way. He can play catch-up later."

Lucy frowned. "Natsu's the one who picked out the job," she reasoned. "I'm sure he already knows what it entails."

Gray laughed and shook his head in fond amusement. "You have too much faith in him, Lucy. Natsu saw the word 'desert', took a half-second to check how long the train ride was, and presented us with the job without bothering to look at the other details. I bet he knows even less about this job than you do. All he really cares about is that it's in the desert."

His mirth faded as he considered that. It was true that he and Natsu often did things specifically to annoy each other so he didn't exactly have a leg to stand on if he wanted to complain about this, but it seemed a little sad that sometimes their main—or only—consideration in doing things was how much it would bother the other person. It seemed a little sad that the only reason Natsu had picked this job was to hurt Gray.

No, Natsu didn't want to hurt him. They'd pick on each other all day long, but they never tried to hurt each other. It wasn't like Natsu knew about his history with deserts or how badly the heat could affect him, and Gray would honestly prefer that it stayed that way. This time there would be no complaining, no passing out, no delirium. And if Gray was thoroughly miserable… Well, Natsu didn't need to know that.

"Are you okay, Gray?" Erza asked, leaning forward to peer at him with concerned eyes.

Gray pulled himself from his musings and smiled reassuringly. "Sure," he said lightly. "Why don't you go ahead and do a quick briefing? I doubt Happy has any idea of what's going on aside from what Natsu told him, and that fool isn't the most reliable source of information."

Erza eyed him a moment longer before shrugging and pulling out the job request from her pack. Smoothing out the slightly wrinkled paper, she double-checked the details as she explained them.

"The client is the leader of a small desert village that has been having trouble with a dark guild moving into their territory recently. It sounds like this guild set up camp quite a ways inside the desert, not terribly close to the village, but the problem is that it raids the village from time to time, taking supplies, animals, and even kidnapping a few of the residents. Apparently there's a legend of a lost city buried in the sands that's full of gold and riches and all that, and the dark guild has dropped hints that they've found it and are excavating it."

She paused and frowned thoughtfully at the paper in her hands. Gray didn't know what she was reading, but something else was bothering him a little.

"Is there something else important about this…lost city?" he asked. "Gold and riches sound more like something that treasure hunters would be after."

Erza looked back up, worrying her lip for a moment before speaking. "Well, apparently part of the legend is that there's a jeweled amulet buried in the city that is enchanted and has remarkable magical powers. There aren't any details here on what it's supposed to actually do, but maybe the villagers can tell us when we get there."

"I guess that might interest a dark guild," Lucy said. "Well, as long as there's some kind of real evidence that the legend is real and not just a fiction."

Erza shrugged. "I guess something must have convinced them that it's real, or at least they suspect that it's a good possibility." She glanced back down at the request, her eyes briefly skimming over the rest of the writing. "Anyway, the villagers want us to get rid of the dark guild before they get their hands on this amulet, and we also need to rescue the kidnapping victims."

"At least it's not a boring job," Gray said optimistically. Maybe it would make the crushing heat more bearable if there was something interesting to distract himself with.

Erza opened her mouth, but paused when the semi-conscious dragon slayer at Gray's side mumbled something incoherent under his breath and jerked fitfully. Natsu moaned and turned slightly to slump over on Gray, almost snuggling into him and letting out a contented sigh.

Gray really wanted to just put an end to this right now and leave Natsu to his misery since the idiot undoubtedly deserved it after yesterday's fiasco, but in the end he sighed quietly, obediently looping an arm around his friend and letting one cool hand rest against Natsu's forehead. Eyes still closed, Natsu made a contented sound in the back of his throat that sounded almost like a purr, and his fitful murmurings and movements subsided as he relaxed into Gray's side.

"That's so cute," Lucy said with a laugh. "I never thought Natsu would do something like that."

"He's really out of it," Gray said, shrugging. "He'd never do this if he was really awake, but when he's in that weird, nauseous daze of his, he sometimes does stupid stuff."

Erza studied Natsu curiously. "It's weird," she said slowly. "It looks like he actually likes doing that."

"It's not so much me he likes," Gray explained. "It's the cold. Took me a little while to figure out what the hell he was doing when he started this, but sometimes when he gets like this, he starts seeking out cool things. If I'm here then it's all well and good, but I saw him snuggle up to someone's cooler once, and sometimes he goes for the windows if they're cool. It's not like he's really aware that he's doing it, but if he can feel something cool next to him, then he sometimes curls up to it like some weird cat or something. I can't imagine that it helps much with the motion sickness itself, but he falls asleep better instead of being stuck in these restless, semi-conscious states."

The girls looked surprised, and Gray couldn't blame them. It wasn't the kind of behavior you'd expect from a fire-breathing idiot.

"How come we've never noticed this?" Lucy asked. A thought occurred to her and her eyes widened. "Or is it only me again?" she wailed.

"No, I've never seen him do that either," Erza reassured her.

"He doesn't do it all that often," Gray said. "For one, he's not always so out of it that he's unaware enough to do it. And sometimes when he does it you guys aren't around, or you're asleep or something. Or sometimes you're distracted enough talking or doing whatever that you just don't even notice."

He was actually pretty amazed at how unobservant people could be at times. Usually people saw what they expected to see, and no one expected to see Natsu cuddling up to Gray, comatose or not. It had happened a couple times while the girls were around and awake, but they never seemed to notice. And Gray usually pushed Natsu away once he was asleep, so the 'snuggling' episodes didn't usually last for long.

"I'm mostly surprised that you put up with it," Erza said, curiosity flaring in her eyes again.

"Me too," Gray grumbled. "I mostly get tired of his groaning and twitching. It's annoying. I guess I could just knock him out instead, but then he complains about it later."

All technically true. The other reason was that although Gray teased Natsu about his motion sickness and thought it was a stupid weakness to have, he didn't necessarily want to watch his friend suffer through it anyway. When Natsu's nauseousness was annoying but bearable, Gray had no problem making fun of him. But the times when it was really bad, when he was reduced to a pitiful, miserable wreck, it was hard to really take pleasure in it.

By the time Natsu woke each time, everything would be back to normal. Either Gray would have pushed him away beforehand and it would be like nothing ever happened or, if Natsu had been particularly fitful and wouldn't stay asleep without the coolness, Gray would pretend to be napping when he woke up. He honestly didn't know how much of these escapades Natsu remembered when he pulled himself out of his dazes, but neither of them had ever acknowledged it.

Gray had never even teased Natsu about it, despite the fact that this was normally an opportunity he would never pass up. Part of it was because he sometimes felt the tiniest bit sorry for Natsu. Mostly it was because he knew that if he ever brought it up, Natsu would be very careful to make sure that it never happened again. That would certainly be more convenient for Gray, but it wouldn't help Natsu any. And as much as it pained Gray to admit to himself, he occasionally liked feeling like he could help his friend out a little, even if it wasn't much.

Although right now, it was pretty damn tempting to shake Natsu awake and make fun of him. After all, he had specifically picked out a job just so that Gray would be miserable, so why shouldn't the ice mage return the favor? Gray was still irritated with his friend and it would be satisfying to get a little payback here, but he wasn't quite that vindictive. It was also tempting to make his hand extra cold with his magic or drop an ice cube down the dragon slayer's shirt—Natsu might sometimes like coolness when he was ill, but Gray doubted that he'd like real cold very much. That would be pretty petty, to be sure. It would also serve Natsu right.

Gray pushed that idea aside. He would be petty as hell after this trip was over and he'd definitely get revenge on Natsu, but not with the motion sickness thing. He wasn't a sadist.

Well, maybe a little…

Natsu made another quiet noise of contentment and stilled, his breathing evening out as he fell into a peaceful slumber. Gray sighed, the sudden impulse to freeze the idiot's hands together fading away. It was hard to be petty when Natsu was like that. When he woke up and returned to his normal annoying self, then it would be a hell of a lot easier.

Gently disentangling himself from his friend, Gray carefully pushed Natsu back to the side so that he could lean against the window instead. The dragon slayer's face immediately scrunched into a frown and he stirred a little, groaning pitifully under his breath.

"Oh, good grief," Gray muttered, rolling his eyes.

It was going to be one of _those_ trips. He pulled Natsu back over to let his friend settle against him again, and replaced his hand. Natsu's restlessness disappeared almost immediately, and he slipped back into a deeper sleep again.

Erza chuckled under her breath and Gray scowled over at her.

"You do realize that he's the one making you do a job in the desert, right?" she asked. "Maybe letting him suffer a little motion sickness isn't such a bad thing."

"I don't want to listen to his moaning for five hours," Gray mumbled, looking away to hide his embarrassment. Erza just laughed quietly.

"As surprised as I am that you tolerate this, I'm actually more surprised that Natsu does," Lucy said as she studied the pair.

Gray shrugged. "I don't know how aware of it he is when he wakes up."

Happy snickered and grinned. "Natsu puts up with it because sometimes when he feels ill, coolness helps him feel better and fall asleep so that he's not stuck being miserable. And it helps with the motion sickness a little."

"He actually told you that?" Erza asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yup," Happy said cheerfully. "And he says that he likes it when it's Gray, because it's comforting to know that there's a friend with him. And then he told me that under no circumstances am I to repeat that to anyone, under pain of death."

That was kind of odd to hear. But then again, Natsu sometimes leaned over onto Lucy or Erza if he was sitting next to one of them. He'd take any friend over nothing, and Gray just happened to be the friend with the lower than average body temperature, even if he wasn't exactly the ideal friend. Gray supposed that made sense.

"Then why are you telling us now?" Lucy asked.

"Because he tried to get me in trouble with Erza earlier," Happy said with a smug grin, his eyes sparkling wickedly.

Gray snorted in amusement. Natsu had really shot himself in the foot blaming Happy at the train station.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Lucy said, eyeing the little cat with a faintly disturbed expression. "I never realized you could be so devious."

Happy looked terribly pleased with himself, and the conversation moved on to safer topics. They did, after all, have to find a way to entertain themselves for several more hours.

Gray followed along, but soon started getting uncomfortable. For one, Natsu was heavy and Gray's arm was getting tired. Also, the dragon slayer was like an oven and was overheating him. It was already going to be plenty hot when they got to the desert, and Gray thought it was rather unfair that he had to be hot on the train too.

When he'd had quite enough, Gray carefully pushed Natsu away again, only to provoke a similar reaction as before. Groaning, he let Natsu cuddle up to him again and resigned himself to being uncomfortable as the others watched his plight and chuckled fondly.

It was going to be a long trip.

* * *

 **Note: This whole coolness-helps-motion-sickness thing is not actually part of any main headcanon I have. So why bring it up now? Honestly, the only reason is that I'd planned a really important scene at the end of the story that would build off this idea, but then plot happened and that scene isn't as important as it was supposed to be. It's just hard to change it now, for a few reasons. And anyway, I got this great mental image of Natsu snuggling up to some poor sap's cooler, and it made me snicker evilly.**

 **emmahoshi: Lol yeah, this story was not as highly planned out as "Stay" because it was just supposed to be a short thing to get me back into the mood for writing. I changed the direction of the plot at least twice x.x Ha, I told you, I could see Gray and Natsu competing about _everything_ , the dorks. I'm exactly that way too, where I have to be on time to everything. Oh, no, poor Gray has already had a whole host of problems with deserts lol Erm, I wouldn't get too attached to your jewel theory XD We won't get there for a while, though. Yeah, the motion sickness thing is definitely something I use for friendship value, ha ha. Yeah, sometimes I tend to forget about Happy or exclude him from my writing, but when I do include him, he can actually be a useful and entertaining character. Ha, we'll get to all the sickness. Eventually. For some reason it took me a few chapters to really get into it and I did a lot of setup, and now it's too hard to go rearranging things with the whole alternate POV chapter style x.x**


	3. Happy is smarter than he looks

**Note: Oh goody, more of my pointless meandering. Have a chapter of random conversation. ...Well, even though I say this chapter is rather pointless, it's actually pretty important, I guess. In hindsight it might've been better to shorten it and combine it with something else, but the story would have been completely different without it. *sigh***

 **Also, embarrassed, confused Natsu is actually kinda cute. And I like this idea of Happy playing both sides. Gray and Natsu are too stubborn to talk to each other, so why not enlist a talking cat as a middleman? XD**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 _(In which Happy is smarter than he looks and tries to talk some sense into Natsu.)_

* * *

When the train finally started slowing to a stop, the first thing Natsu noticed as he stirred was the chill. His immediate thought was that he really, _really_ hoped Gray was asleep. He jerked upright, practically threw himself against the window to get away from the ice mage, and blinked his eyes open to quickly take stock of the situation. Thankfully Gray was dozing, eyes closed and breathing even, but everyone else was watching Natsu with no little amusement. He suppressed a groan.

When the motion sickness got really bad, he wasn't always aware of what he was doing. He didn't always know what he had done afterwards either, because the whole period would seem fuzzy and fragmented, like a half-remembered dream. No, he didn't remember much from those periods, but there had been three or four times when he had woken up to find himself slumped over Gray.

That had been awkward as hell.

It would have been even more awkward if Gray was awake to see it, but by some miracle of fate, he was always asleep when that happened. Sometimes when Natsu didn't find himself huddled up to Gray he'd still half remember a vague feeling of coolness, but he never knew whether or not that signified that he had attacked his friend in his sleep. Gray had never said anything about it, but Natsu had the feeling that he might know.

But as long as neither he nor Gray acknowledged this awkward phenomenon, Natsu was content to let it be. It was irritating that his body kept betraying him, but Gray's natural coolness was more effective than any other method he had found for helping his motion sickness.

Happy knew about all this too, of course. The little cat teased Natsu about it every time it happened, but he didn't think that Lucy or Erza had ever noticed. At least, they'd never made fun of him for it. Until now.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Lucy said with a laugh. "Enjoy your nap?"

Natsu flushed and scowled. "Whatever."

"You were looking real comfy snuggled up to Gray," Erza teased, an amused smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

Natsu looked away. "Whatever. A few minutes isn't a big deal."

Erza's eyebrows shot up. "A few minutes?" she asked incredulously. "You were like that for almost the entire trip."

" _What?_ " Natsu's head jerked around and he stared at her with wide eyes. She was obviously pulling his leg here. There was no way he'd been slumped over on Gray for nearly five hours. That was ridiculous. "I don't believe you."

Lucy snickered. "It's true. It was adorable. And every time he tried to push you away, you'd start twitching and moaning again until he gave up." She giggled. "I swear you were making these cute little purring noises sometimes."

The blood drained away from Natsu's face. No way in hell. He wanted to sink into the floor and die of embarrassment. His rival was never going to let him live this down.

"I don't–I don't _purr_!" he sputtered indignantly, searching desperately for a way out of this mess.

Lucy shrugged. "Well, whatever it was, it was cute."

Natsu looked to Happy for help, his eyes silently pleading with the Exceed to tell him that the girls were making this up. The little cat left his perch by Lucy and hopped across the intervening space to settle on Natsu's lap.

"It's okay, Natsu," he said, patting the dragon slayer's knee in a comforting fashion.

That wasn't what Natsu had been hoping to hear. Rubbing at his face in a vain attempt to hide his embarrassment, he glanced around and noticed the other passengers starting to get up and exit the train.

"Let's–let's just wake up Gray and get going," he muttered.

"Wake up Gray?" Lucy asked with a small frown.

Erza leaned forward and peered at the sleeping ice mage. "What is he doing?" she asked, studying Gray like he was an enigma to be solved.

"Um… Sleeping?" Natsu suggested, unsure of why the girls seemed so confused.

Lucy snorted. "He sure wasn't sleeping thirty seconds ago."

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested that, with Natsu's eyes growing wider and wider as a niggling suspicion started up in the back of his mind.

"Oh, you've done it now," Happy mumbled, his ears flattening.

"What do you mean, he wasn't sleeping thirty seconds ago?" Natsu asked, afraid of the answer.

The girls exchanged looks, apparently starting to realize that something else was going on here.

"You guys are so stupid," Gray said flatly, letting out his breath in a heavy sigh.

Natsu jerked in surprise and whipped around to stare at him. Gray's head had been turned to the side, his hair dark against his pale skin as it shadowed his eyes, but now he stirred, lifting his head and opening his eyes to give the girls a hard look. His breathing, which had seemed so deep and even just a few seconds before, quickly adjusted back to normal, and his mouth twisted into a displeased frown.

Everyone stared at him in stunned silence, before he shook his head and stood up.

"Well, we're here," he said into the sudden stillness. "Grab your stuff and let's get going."

Snatching up his bag, he slipped into the aisle and headed for the exit, the girls quietly trailing after him. Natsu hesitated and gave Happy a helpless look, before sighing and shouldering his bag as he slowly followed after the others. He'd picked this job to annoy Gray, but right now it was starting to seem like he was actually getting the worse end of the deal. This was quite possibly the most humiliating moment of his life.

As he stepped off the train, he heard Lucy start to ask Gray something before he cut her off. Gray glanced over at Natsu and winced. Then he plastered a pleasant smile on his face, although Natsu sensed a sharp undertone, and put one arm around Lucy's shoulders and the other around Erza's.

"Can I talk to you two for a minute?" he asked, his voice far too mild. The girls nodded, both looking uneasy. Gray nodded to Natsu and Happy. "Be right back."

He steered Lucy and Erza away firmly, leading them quite a ways down the street. Natsu strained to pick up their conversation with his dragon-enhanced hearing, attempting to filter out the background chatter of all the other people walking through the village.

"What's going on?" Lucy was asking. "I mean, he would have expected us to tease him about it. And you must tease him about it all the time, anyway."

Natsu frowned. If he'd only done this a few times, that wouldn't leave Gray all that many opportunities for teasing. He didn't like the implication that maybe Gray had known about this for a lot longer than he had hoped.

"Yes, he'd expect it from you, but you should have left me out of it." Gray let out an irritated breath as he dropped his arms away from the girls' shoulders and crossed them over his chest instead. "If I teased him about it, do you really think he'd keep doing it? No, I've never made fun of him for it. Why do you think I was pretending to be asleep?"

A large group of people moved in front of the huddle of friends, and the conversation was instantly drowned out. Natsu scowled and looked down at Happy instead.

"I really did that the entire trip?" he asked.

Happy nodded.

Natsu shook his head slowly. "I don't get it. Why did he put up with it?"

"Why does he ever put up with it?" Happy shrugged. "We thought he should just leave you to suffer since your whole big plan was to make him miserable on this trip, but maybe he's nicer than you give him credit for."

Natsu's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'why does he _ever_ put up with it'?"

Happy hesitated as he seemed to wage an internal debate. "Natsu, how often do you think you do that to Gray?" he asked finally.

Now this was dangerous ground. Natsu didn't really know the answer to that question, and he had never tried to figure it out because ignorance was bliss. If he could ignore the problem, then he could continue on like he was. Giving concrete numbers made it seem more real, like it was something Natsu would have to take action about. But now, faced with a situation where Gray was plenty aware of what was going on, maybe it was better if Natsu knew.

"I don't know. Four or five times, maybe?"

Happy shook his head and sighed. "I've seen you do it at least a couple dozen times."

Natsu actually recoiled as he stared at his friend in horror. " _Dozen?_ " he choked out.

He had never ever suspected it was that prevalent. No way would Gray have missed something that happened that frequently.

"Yeah. Usually he makes sure to push you away before you wake up so that you don't realize you were doing it. Natsu…how often have you actually seen Gray sleep on trains?"

Natsu was still too busy trying to wrap his head around this newest bombshell to really pay much attention to the question. "I don't know," he said distractedly. "I'm usually too out of it to pay attention to anyone else."

Happy vacillated a moment longer, a torn look in his eyes, before he decided to just take the plunge.

"Almost never. I've almost never seen him sleep on trains." He gave Natsu a meaningful look. "Which makes it all the more interesting that the only time he ever seems to do it is when you're too fitful to stay asleep on your own, so he doesn't push you away before you wake up."

Natsu temporarily abandoned his other musings to stare at Happy blankly as he started putting the pieces together. A few minutes ago, Gray had been pretending to be asleep when Natsu had woken up. And what Happy was saying now…

"You're saying that he's always pretending to be asleep when I wake up on him?" he asked, a nauseous feeling that had nothing to do with motion sickness settling in his stomach.

"Yes."

"But… He's never said anything. I don't understand. He should have been teasing me mercilessly. Why hasn't he ever said anything?"

"Maybe for the same reason that I never have," Happy said with a sigh.

"And why is that?"

Happy didn't respond immediately. "When he comes back, ask him how many times you've done that to him before," he said finally. "And ask him why he tolerates it. Maybe his answers will give you a hint."

Natsu frowned at Happy in confusion and opened his mouth to ask what he was talking about, but that was when he noticed Gray heading back over, the girls looking suitably chastened as they followed in his wake. Pausing in front of Natsu and Happy, Gray started talking as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

"This is a town right on the edge of the desert," he said conversationally. "Erza says that she sent word ahead of us that we'd be coming to take the job, and the village leader said he sent a guide to lead us to the village. Of course, no one bothered to set up a more specific meeting place, so all we know is that he's in town somewhere and is wearing a necklace with a large green stone that's meant to mark him as a guide. Right now we need to find him, so we're going to split up and start looking. Erza and Lucy will head that way." Gray pointed off in one direction. "You two will go that way, and I'll head over in that direction. If you find him, then just holler or walk around until you run into the rest of us. This isn't a big town and it shouldn't be hard to find each other again."

"Good plan," Erza said. She gave both Natsu and Gray apologetic looks. "Sorry. Come on, Lucy."

The girls hurried off, leaving Natsu to stare after them bemusedly before turning back to Gray. His friend had winced and was stretching out one of his arms gingerly, as if it was cramping or asleep. It seemed kind of weird until Natsu realized that must be the arm he had been leaning on, and if he'd really been leaning on it for almost five hours…

"Later, flame brain," Gray said. He turned to walk away.

"Sorry about your arm," Natsu mumbled, looking away in embarrassment.

Gray paused and turned back, frowning at him. "It's fine."

Remembering Happy's advice, Natsu hurried to ask Gray the questions the Exceed had suggested.

"How often do I do that?"

"Oh, not that often," Gray said dismissively. "A couple of times, maybe."

Natsu stared at him. That definitely didn't match Happy's estimate.

"Why do you put up with it?" he asked.

An uneasy look flashed across Gray's face for a split second before it was replaced by a smirk. "Because listening to your groaning is annoying and it's impossible to have a relaxing train ride when you're twitching all over the place. And since I'm not allowed to complain about it, I had to find a different way to handle it."

"Oh." Natsu wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "Well, sorry."

Gray winced and waved him off. "Don't worry about it. If it bothered me that much, I would have put a stop to it a long time ago." Then he winced again, perhaps realizing that his last statement had the possibility of giving away his earlier fib. "Anyway, we should get going. I'll see you guys later."

Gray waved at them halfheartedly and hurried off. Natsu stared after him until he disappeared, and then looked back down at Happy.

"He lied to me."

"Of course."

"But… You were right. I'm dragging him all the way out here to annoy him. Why would he put up with me instead of leaving me to fend for myself? He makes fun of my motion sickness all the time. I just… I don't understand."

Happy sighed and jumped into the air, his feathered wings materializing so that he could fly in the direction Gray had told them to search. Natsu hurried to follow, falling into step beside his feline friend as they headed down the street.

"If Gray had told you that you snuggle up to him all the time on trains, how would you have reacted?" the Exceed asked. "If every time you did that he made it clear that he knew about it and then he teased you about it mercilessly, what would you have done?"

"I would have taken precautions to make sure that it never happened again," Natsu said slowly. He scanned the passing pedestrians halfheartedly, not really seeing them. He was too distracted trying to puzzle out this newest problem.

"Exactly," Happy said. "That's why even though I tease you whenever you wake up on him, I didn't make a big deal out of it all those times when you didn't remember."

Natsu thought back to when Gray had practically dragged Erza and Lucy aside for a chat a few minutes earlier. _'If I teased him about it, do you really think he'd keep doing it?'_ So Gray hadn't said anything because he knew that Natsu would put a stop to it if either of them ever acknowledged it. Happy had only teased Natsu about it when he was aware that he had done it, for the same reason.

But that was only half the answer Natsu was looking for.

"Why doesn't he want me to stop?" he asked. "I mean, it must be weird for him too. Wouldn't it be easier if he just put a stop to it right away?"

"Of course it would. When you flop over on him, he usually does some token complaining about how you're heavy and so hot that you're overheating him, but after that he doesn't complain that much anymore. He does it more for show than anything else, but it's true that you do make him uncomfortable. Yes, it would be easier for him if he ended it, but he hasn't. He doesn't tolerate it for himself. He puts up with it for you."

"But… Why?"

Natsu looked around forlornly, ostensibly to search for their village guide even though he couldn't care less about that right now. He was totally out of his element here. Not only was the entire situation humiliating, but now Gray was being completely incomprehensible. The two of them bickered and annoyed each other on purpose, and weren't above intentionally making each other mildly uncomfortable from time to time. Natsu didn't understand why this would be any different. Especially this time in particular, when Gray was still upset over this whole desert thing.

"When you two fight, you can get pretty vicious," Happy said, confusing him even further. Natsu didn't know what that had to do with anything, but he stayed quiet. "But no matter how angry Gray is at you, there are some things he never does. For one, he never tries to seriously injure you."

"I don't try to hurt him either!" Natsu protested.

Happy nodded distractedly, his head twisting from side to side as he searched the crowd. "I know," he said, before continuing on. "The other thing he never does is mess with your scarf, just like you don't mess with his necklace. No matter how mad he is at you, he's never done anything to your scarf because he knows how much it means to you."

"Yes…" Natsu supposed that was true, now that he thought about it. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Look, the point is that for all you two work to harass each other, there are boundaries that you don't overstep," Happy answered, apparently deciding that the indirect approach wasn't working. "It's the difference between picking a job on Mt. Hakobe and a job in the depths of the arctic. The difference between a two-hour train ride and an eight-hour one. The difference between teasing you when your motion sickness makes you a little uncomfortable and teasing you when it's completely debilitating." He turned to give Natsu a meaningful stare. "The difference between picking a short job in a hot part of the country and a job in the middle of the desert."

Natsu had wanted to interject something right about the point where Happy mentioned the eight-hour train ride—because Gray had definitely done that and it had, indeed, been crossing the line—but the last statement caught his attention and pushed out all other thoughts. He stared back at the little cat indignantly.

"What are you trying to say?" he demanded.

Happy sighed again and returned to scanning the streets. "Look, sometimes you pick jobs in hot places, but they only last a day or two, make Gray a little uncomfortable, and then we get to come home and it's all okay. This here… Don't you think that maybe a desert is crossing the line?"

"Why?" Natsu asked, confused. "How is it any different, really? A desert is just a hot place. The job will take a couple days and then we'll be gone, no harm done."

Happy gave him a hard look. "How do you know that it'll only take a couple days? You don't even know what the job _is_. And Gray knows it."

Natsu frowned. It was true that he hadn't paid much attention to the details of the job, but he didn't have any reason to think that it would be long or anything. Something about Happy's last statement caught his attention as well, as if there was more meaning behind it than the words themselves had.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Did he say something?"

Happy sighed again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

"When you were passed out on the train, Erza gave us a quick briefing of the job. Lucy said something about how you should already know what the job was because you picked it, and… What was it that Gray said, exactly?" The Exceed paused as he dredged up the memory. "Something about how you saw the word 'desert', checked how long the train ride would be, and then gave it to us without bothering to look at the rest of the details. And then he got this funny look on his face until Erza asked him if he was okay."

Natsu blinked, taken aback. Well, yes, that was pretty much exactly what had happened, but it wasn't like that was so out of the ordinary. He and Gray took jobs to annoy each other all the time. Okay, so that blunt description of his thought process made it seem kind of callous, but Natsu didn't see what the big deal was.

"Gray always has a funny look on his face."

Happy rolled his eyes and reached back to rummage through the little green sack on his back. Pulling out a piece of paper, he handed it to Natsu. "Erza let me borrow the job request since you don't know anything about this job other than that it's in the desert. Take a look at it and tell me what gives you the impression that this will be a one- or two-day job."

Natsu took the request and read over it, frowning thoughtfully. "Kidnapping…cursed city…powerful magic amulet…dark guild…middle of the desert… Oh."

"How long the job is depends on how powerful the guild turns out to be and what this amulet is," Happy said. "If they turn out to be bigger than we expect, then we could be stuck out in the desert for days or weeks, and Gray is going to be miserable."

Natsu silently handed the paper back to Happy, so lost in thought that he barely noticed the Exceed return it to his pack. Maybe he should have read over the details more carefully before picking the job. He wanted Gray to be a little uncomfortable for a few days, but he hadn't intended to make his friend miserable for weeks. He didn't feel that bad about the desert, but he did feel a little bad that this job might be longer than he had anticipated. He wanted Gray to be annoyed, not hurt.

"I'll make sure that it only takes a few days," Natsu said, eyes glinting with determination. "Don't worry, I won't let it drag out that long."

"Yeah." Happy rubbed at his face wearily. "Natsu… Gray is a lot more careful when he picks out jobs."

The dragon slayer raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" he asked dryly. "Explain to me what happened with that eight-hour train ride, then."

The Exceed let out a breath. "He's telling the truth, Natsu. He didn't realize how far away the town was."

"So he keeps saying," Natsu said skeptically.

"The ride was so long that we all fell asleep at one point or another," Happy said. "When I woke up, Lucy and Erza were still asleep, but Gray was awake. The first thing I noticed was that you were leaning against him again because you were really, really out of it. I'm not sure I've ever seen you that miserable on a train before. Because I was asleep I can't say exactly how long Gray held you, but he didn't push you away until Lucy and Erza started waking up. I rather think that you two were like that for hours. Does that sound like something he would do if he picked a job just so that you would be miserable for eight hours straight?"

Natsu shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around that.

"He felt bad about it, Natsu."

Natsu frowned. "Why? He always makes fun of me for my motion sickness." He shrugged. "We both make fun of each other when we're uncomfortable."

Happy rolled his eyes and let out his breath in an exasperated huff. "You really don't get it, do you?" he asked, the barest hint of irritation edging his voice. "It's all about that boundaries thing again. He'll tease you if you're a little uncomfortable for an hour or two, but he always steps in to help you feel better when you're truly miserable. And he even takes steps to make sure that you don't find out the extent of it, because he doesn't want you to shut him out. He wants to be able to help you.

"Look, do you know how many other snowy mountains there are in this area that the guild gets jobs for? But Gray almost always picks Mt. Hakobe for team jobs. Do you know why?"

Natsu shrugged. "Not really."

"Because Mt. Hakobe is closer," Happy said quietly. Natsu stared at him blankly. "When Gray takes solo jobs he'll go to those other mountains, but when he's picking team jobs, unless he's really mad at you, he usually picks Mt. Hakobe because the train ride is shorter."

"Coincidence," Natsu said dismissively. He highly doubted that Gray really cared that much about something so minor.

Happy's eyes flashed angrily. "It's not. I go with him to the request board sometimes because I started getting curious about the pattern of team jobs he chose. And even _if_ that was just coincidence, explain this. Do you know how many jobs we get for areas that have arctic temperatures? Quite a few. Why do you think Gray always picks Mt. Hakobe when he wants to annoy you, instead of choosing those areas?"

Natsu's eyes narrowed. He didn't know what Happy's problem was, but he didn't like the feeling that he was being attacked by one of his closest friends.

"Maybe he doesn't like them," he grumbled mutinously.

Happy was already shaking his head. "When he's taking solo jobs, he'll choose those because he prefers jobs in cold areas. But not once has he pressed to go there on a team job, because those places are much, much colder than Mt. Hakobe and he knows that we would all be miserable. Mt. Hakobe is cold but it's hardly arctic, and we can handle those temperatures for a few days as long as we're prepared. Those temperatures are nothing to Gray. He could handle the colder temperatures of other arctic areas too, but we couldn't—at least not for more than a little while.

"So it's all well and good to annoy him by making him go on jobs in places where it's kind of hot for a few days, but a desert is different."

Natsu scowled. "If he was really _that_ unhappy about it, he would have said something."

"He _did_!" Happy burst out, throwing his stubby paws into the air in frustration. "He did, but were you listening?"

Natsu's glower deepened. "You weren't even there when we were discussing the job—you were too busy flirting with Charle. What do you know?"

Happy shook his head, his anger draining away as he turned away tiredly and halfheartedly scanned the crowd for their missing guide.

"I was paying attention," he said. "It was kind of hard to miss what was going on when you two made such a fuss about it. Natsu, why would Gray get so angry unless he was unhappy about the situation? You've picked jobs to annoy him before and he's never reacted that strongly or flat-out refused to go. Why was he so much more upset this time? This is what I was talking about. He's careful not to really hurt you when he's picking out jobs and stuff, but you just dive right in regardless of the consequences."

Natsu huffed. "I'm not trying to hurt him."

"I know that," Happy said with a sigh. "But does _he_?"

Natsu stopped right in the middle of the street and stared at his friend. Happy paused midflight and looked back, his eyes tired and sad.

"We do stupid crap like this to each other all the time," Natsu muttered. "He knows better than to think something dumb like that."

Gray really should know better. He and Natsu understood that they were never really trying to hurt each other, even if outsiders sometimes had their doubts. Surely Gray wouldn't start doubting that now.

"Probably," Happy said, his voice quiet. "Usually he would know that, but… Didn't you see how unhappy he was yesterday? And you ignored that and pressed on anyway. Not because you wanted to hurt him, of course, but because you weren't really paying attention and you missed the signs. But in Gray's eyes, you crossed the line with the desert and then you purposefully pressed on with the plan even when he made it clear that he didn't want to go. And you know how I said he had that funny look after saying that you only picked the job because it was in the desert? It looked… Oh, I don't know. I thought it looked sad.

"I'm not saying all this to make you feel bad or because I'm turning against you or anything. I just… I wish you would be more careful and sometimes think things through better. Gray is my friend too, and I don't want to see him get hurt any more than you do. I just think that it's important you realize that maybe you don't always understand when you've gone too far."

Natsu's anger and irritation slowly drained away, and he and Happy stood still in the middle of the bustling street, ignoring annoyed pedestrians as they stared at each other. Natsu finally realized that Happy was worried, or was at least starting to have some doubts about this venture. The dragon slayer had perceived this as an attack, but Happy just wanted him to take a step back and think about what he was really doing.

He didn't know if Happy was right about all of it, but…some of it made sense. It was true that Natsu was careless sometimes. He never meant to hurt anyone, but he wasn't always careful about the details—he just assumed that everything would work out.

Gray understood this careless, unobservant side of Natsu's personality. He'd dealt with it for years, after all. So he really should know better, but now that Natsu thought about it, his friend's reaction to the proposal of this job had been a little extreme and probably should have sent up warning signs. Natsu had been so excited by the prospect of this perfect revenge that he hadn't really noticed.

Was a desert really crossing the line? More important than whether or not it actually was, did _Gray_ think that it was? Natsu hadn't thought it was a big deal, but if Gray did… If Gray did, then Natsu was sorry.

"Okay," he said quietly. "I think I get it." He smiled wanly. "No more deserts after this."

Happy searched his face, making sure that Natsu understood and didn't really think that this whole thing was about the desert, but then relaxed and smiled a little.

"I'm sure it's fine and he understands," he said. "Just be more careful next time."

Natsu nodded, and the two friends headed off again. They searched the town in relative silence for several more minutes, before spotting Gray jogging through the crowd towards them.

"Hey!" Gray waved at them and they waited for him to catch up. "Erza and Lucy found our guide. Come on, he's over here."

He turned, presumably to lead them to where the girls and their guide waited, but Natsu hurriedly reached out and grabbed his arm. Gray paused and spun back around, frowning at him in confusion.

"What?"

Natsu hesitated a moment, his conversation with Happy still fresh in his mind. "Can you really handle this?"

Irritation flared in Gray's eyes, and Natsu knew that he had gone about this the wrong way.

"Of course I can," Gray said, careful to keep most of his annoyance out of his voice.

Natsu wondered why he was bothering with this weird extra-polite thing now. It hadn't started until today, and it was weird as hell.

"I mean… Is it really going to be that bad?"

Annoyance and confusion warred in Gray's eyes momentarily, but faded away as he took in Natsu's unusually serious demeanor.

"Good grief, what has Happy been telling you?" he asked, shaking his head. He sighed and looked away. "It'll be fine, Natsu."

"If it's not…"

Gray looked back over at him, startled. He tilted his head and studied Natsu curiously, unsure of where this sudden change of heart was coming from. Then he smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry so much, flame brain. I can handle a little heat. Besides, we're already here, aren't we? Now come on. Everyone's waiting on us."

Natsu bit his lip and stared back. It seemed like Gray was okay with everything, but something else was bothering him now.

"I don't get it," he blurted out. "Aren't you still mad?"

Because Gray was being way too nice for someone who was mad. He'd been angry yesterday and by all rights should still be annoyed, but he had been nice to Natsu on the train and had honestly been pretty pleasant all day long. It was weird and confusing.

Gray blinked at him in surprise. "Sure," he said, starting to laugh. "You're pretty damn annoying. But I'm not allowed to complain, am I?" He winked at Natsu to take the bite out of his words, and the dragon slayer couldn't help but smile back despite himself. "Now come on. You too, Happy."

He turned away and slipped through the crowd without a backwards glance. Natsu and Happy exchanged a look, and the Exceed smiled and nodded approvingly.

"See? I told you it would be fine. Doesn't it feel better now that you've cleared things up?" he asked.

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, it does."

They hurried after Gray, following him back to the rest of the group. Natsu had found a new determination. He might have been a little careless, might have gone a half-step too far, but he would make things right. No matter how powerful this dark guild was or how hard the job, he would make sure that they wrapped everything up in a couple days so that Gray wouldn't be stuck in the heat for _too_ long. He'd make sure that Gray was doing alright, and after this he'd be more careful about how he chose to annoy his friend. No more deserts.

Anyway, everything would be fine. It was just one quick and easy job, one desert. It wasn't like one little desert would be too much to handle.

* * *

 **Note: This is the point where my plot was derailed for the first time. I originally intended for Natsu to be kind of dumb and oblivious for most of the story, but...Happy interfered. (I can practically hear Gray going, "Happy, whyyy?" XD) If Gray and Natsu's relationship seems a little unbalanced right now, don't worry about it too much. One of the reasons I decided to include this part was that Natsu would be the one stuck being nice later, so this is actually kind of like a preemptive measure to maintain the balance lol And honestly, the only way he was going to start taking things halfway seriously was if someone said something to him. Not that he's always _brainless_ , but he can be kind of oblivious unless someone steps in, ha ha.**

 **emmahoshi: The only part of that list in chronological order is the posting schedule :3 The other sections aren't in any particular order because I don't know what I'll feel like writing when. Oh, emmahoshi, you should know me by now. _Everything_ is a setup for a future event XD Jk, jk, but yeah, I tend to have a purpose for everything I include. Happy's kind of a wildcard character lol And part of Gray's niceness just goes back to his resolution to weird Natsu out and be extra careful about the no-complaining thing, ha ha. Although I do think that he'd probably let stuff go fairly quickly, just because this is the kind of crap he's used to from Natsu XD Ha ha, bad for your diet. Eesh, now you're going to get into my head and make me crave dessert. Thanks :P**


	4. A story is told

**Note: Kind of a long chapter. But it was almost 11k words before I cut out 2k while editing, so you're welcome lol I thought I might be able to cut out some major chunks, but when I went back to reread it I realized exactly how much foreshadowing and subtle background info is here. Plus there's some setup for later stuff. So you get to read it all anyway :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 _(In which a story is told and Gray is smarter than he looks.)_

* * *

Their guide was a short, dark-skinned man wrapped in white robes. As promised, he had a large green amulet around his neck that was hard to miss, being almost the size of a man's fist. Lucy and Erza were waiting with him, exactly where Gray had left them a few minutes earlier.

Gray glanced at Natsu and Happy out of the corner of his eye as they made their way over to join the group, briefly wondering what in the world had gotten into them. Then he shrugged it off. It probably wasn't a big deal, and he had way bigger problems to deal with than one fire-breathing idiot and his feline sidekick.

"Oh good, you found them," Erza said approvingly. Gray shrugged and nodded, and she turned to their guide. "Well, this is all of us."

"Ah, hello," the villager said, his speech heavily accented. "I guide you to village. Is two, two and one-half hour walk. Normally I would bring horses so journey is faster, but the, ah, the dark guild has taken them. We will walk, but not now. You have arrived in very hottest part of afternoon. Travel is not good during this time."

"It already took us five hours to get here," Natsu said. He grinned in the way he did when anticipating a fight. "I'm ready to get started."

Gray rolled his eyes. What an idiot.

"You might not have a problem with the heat, but the rest of us are human," he said dryly. "Even among the people who live here, this time of the afternoon is usually reserved for resting instead of work. Not running around in the desert when the sun is directly overhead reduces our chances of heat exhaustion and dehydration."

Natsu still looked skeptical, but their guide nodded. "Your friend, he is right. In desert, it is much hotter than it is here. Better to wait for sun to travel a little farther. In one, two hours, sun will not strike us as directly. Still, it will be hot, but not so dangerous."

"You're the guide, so we'll trust your judgement," Erza said. She gave Natsu a quelling look and he stayed quiet, although he rolled his eyes and looked mutinous. "What do you suggest we do, then?"

"In one and one-half hours, we meet back here and I take you to village," the man said. "Until then, you can perhaps explore the town? There is big outdoor market here, down that street in the, ah, main square. Also, there is food for sale if you are hungry. I apologize for delay."

"It's alright," Erza assured him. "We understand that we arrived at an inconvenient time. We'll go check out the market and meet you here in an hour and a half."

She ushered the team down the street their guide had indicated, leaving the man standing behind them, shaking his head. Gray didn't blame him. Poor guy hadn't even seen exactly how weird they could get yet.

"I want to just go already," Natsu grumbled.

"He represents the client," Erza said firmly. "We'll do things his way."

Gray silently agreed, although he understood where Natsu was coming from. He himself was impatient to get going, mostly because he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. Even here in town, outside the perimeter of the actual desert, the sun was beating down and the air was uncomfortably warm. Downright hot, really. And it would only get worse from here.

"Did you happen to catch his name?" Gray asked, hoping to forestall Natsu's inevitable complaints.

"Kind of?" Lucy said, although her tone was uncertain. "Well, he told us what it was, but it was in a different language or something and it's completely unpronounceable."

"Oh well. I think we'll manage without it."

The group of friends turned a corner and found themselves staring at a sprawling nest of colorful tents and stalls. It was crowded and loud, with vendors hawking their wares and potential customers bustling about the plaza as they browsed the selection. Some people were wearing more normal, modern clothing, while others wore traditional clothing that suggested they had traveled in from their native tribes in the desert to trade, or at least wanted buyers to think that they had. Even from here, Gray could tell that there was a wide variety of goods for sale, much of it with ethnic roots, and an enticing aroma of food hung in the air. This was a town with one foot in the modern age and one foot in the traditional past, with modern travelers and townsfolk mingling with people who still followed the old ways.

"Wow," Lucy breathed.

"Indeed," Erza agreed. Her keen eyes traveled over the gathered stalls, and Gray could tell the exact moment she spotted one with a vast array of gleaming weaponry displayed, all of it intricately decorated and wickedly sharp. Her eyes brightened. "Why don't we all split up and explore? Just make sure to meet back at the appointed time and place."

Before anyone could say anything else, she hurried away, making a beeline for the weaponry stand. Gray chuckled and shook his head. Some things never changed.

"I'm so hungry," Natsu moaned. He was looking around with great interest, sniffing at the air. "I'm going to go find something to eat. Come on, Happy!"

Natsu's appetite was one of them. Gray rolled his eyes as the dragon slayer and his Exceed quickly disappeared into the crush of pedestrians.

Gray glanced over at Lucy and raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess we might as well take a look around, then."

"Yeah. I think I saw a tent over there with magical trinkets and things. Who knows, maybe I can find something cool," she said.

Always fishing for keys, that one.

"Alright, I'll see you later."

Gray headed into the chaotic maze and drifted along for a while, absently looking over the different items for sale, although he wasn't looking for anything in particular. At one point he decided he'd better get something to eat, because he knew from experience that heat killed his appetite and he figured that it would be a good idea to get a meal now, before eating became an unpleasant chore. He bought something called falafel from a food vendor, and slowly nibbled at the fried balls of chickpeas as he pulled them out of the flatbread pocket they were served in. The heat was already starting to do a number on his appetite though, and he eventually abandoned the attempt.

As interesting as Gray found the market, everyone pressing together was making the temperature rise, and the crush of people was starting to make him…not claustrophobic, exactly, but uncomfortable. Walking determinedly away from the center of the marketplace, he finally managed to break free and breathed a sigh of relief. It was still hot, but at least there weren't people pushing in on him from all sides anymore.

Noticing the shops lining the edge of the plaza, he chose one at random and headed inside. He would have to deal with the full brunt of the desert heat later, so it seemed prudent to cheat a little now and get out of the sun for a few minutes. The shop he picked happened to be for textiles, and the shopkeeper was a young woman with dark hair and eyes who was more than happy to tell him all about the different kinds of rugs and fabrics she was selling. For his part, Gray was more than happy to pretend to listen to her. She was nice enough and he occasionally smiled and asked a question so that she didn't feel like she was talking to a wall, but mostly he let his mind drift.

He wasn't sure how long he had been there before the little bell by the shop door tinkled.

"Gray!"

Gray turned to see Lucy in the doorway. The blonde let the door shut behind her, glanced around at all the fabrics lining the walls, and then raised an eyebrow at him.

"Excuse me for a moment." Gray smiled apologetically at the shopkeeper, who blushed and nodded as she smiled back.

"What's up, Luce?" he asked, heading over to his friend.

"It's about time to meet up."

He frowned in surprise. "Oh really? Guess we'd better go, then."

Lucy grinned at him mischievously, and some of the heat-induced torpor he had been experiencing for the past hour or so evaporated into suspicion.

"Well, I mean, if you're quite done flirting," she said slyly, lowering her voice.

"What?"

"Aren't you flirting with her?" Lucy asked, her eyes twinkling impishly.

Gray rolled his eyes. "Hardly. To be honest, I just wanted to get inside and this is the shop I happened to pick. She's been trying to sell me rugs and things the whole time. That's all."

Lucy snickered. "Maybe so, but _she's_ been flirting with _you_."

"If you say so," he said, giving her a funny look. Remembering the food in his hand, he offered it to Lucy. "Here, do you want this?"

She immediately looked suspicious. "Why? Is it bad?"

Good grief, did everyone assume that every nice thing he did was a trick?

"No, it's pretty good, I guess," he said with a sigh. "I'm just not really hungry."

Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "You aren't hungry?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm not a bottomless pit like Natsu. When it's hot out, I don't always feel like eating. Look, do you want it or not?"

"No, I already ate."

"Alright, then. Let me go say goodbye and then we can head to the check-in spot," Gray said, shrugging apathetically.

Lucy immediately grinned again. "Need to say goodbye to your new girlfriend?"

Gray let out a breath. He was too hot and tired to deal with this right now. He knew Lucy was joking, but honestly.

"She's been stuck talking to me about rugs for an hour," he said. "The least I can do is say goodbye before ducking out without buying anything."

Leaving Lucy snickering behind him, he quickly stepped back over to where the shopkeeper was busily rummaging around in a drawer, pretending like she wasn't attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I have to go now, but thank you for all the information you gave me. It was fascinating," Gray told her.

She looked up and smiled brightly. "No problem. It was my pleasure."

Gray nodded and began to turn away, before a thought struck him. "Hey, do you like falafel? I'm not hungry and Lucy doesn't want it."

The girl flushed and giggled. "Sure."

He handed over the food in question, relieved to be rid of it.

"Thank you," she said shyly.

"No problem. Have a nice day." Gray turned away and headed back over to Lucy.

"Come back soon!" the shopkeeper called after him as he and Lucy exited the store.

Gray waved a hand in acknowledgement but didn't bother turning around. He wouldn't be back, but there was no point saying that. He grimaced when the heat assaulted him as soon as he set foot outside.

"Aw, you gave her your food. How cute!" Lucy teased as the two friends began working their way around the edge of the square.

"You didn't want it," Gray said, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. "What did you want me to do? Throw it away?"

"You could have brought it back with us. Maybe one of the others would want it."

Gray rolled his eyes again. "For one, I'm not going to give Natsu _anything_ after he dragged me out here. He can fend for himself, and I'm sure that he and Happy already ate half the food in town anyway. And Erza will be too distracted by the prospect of a mission to really be interested."

"If you say so," Lucy said with a laugh.

He just bit the inside of his cheek and held his tongue until the crowd thinned out and they arrived at the meeting place. Everyone else was already waiting there.

"Oh good, you finally decided to show up," Erza said, giving them a hard look.

Gray sighed and opened his mouth to apologize for losing track of time, but Lucy beat him to the punch.

"Gray was too distracted building his harem," she said cheerfully.

Gray's head immediately whipped around and he stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth working soundlessly.

"What the hell?" he spluttered finally.

Lucy just smiled back, playing innocent.

"Just what exactly were you doing, Gray?" Erza asked.

Gray looked over at her helplessly, only to see that she and the others were fighting not to laugh.

He scowled and turned on Lucy. "I _told_ you, I was just killing time. She was trying to sell me a rug."

"You can't possibly be so oblivious that you didn't notice she was flirting outrageously with you."

Gray rubbed at his eyes wearily, wondering what he had done to deserve this. "I wasn't really paying attention," he said tiredly. "And in any case, how does one girl—a girl that I have no romantic interest in, to boot—constitute a harem?"

"Well, there's also Juvia…"

"Don't remind me," Gray groaned, ignoring her obnoxious snickering. Shaking his head, he looked over at their guide. "Can we go now?"

The man was eyeing them warily, but nodded. Reaching down to the large pack resting by his feet, he pulled out some canteens and passed them out to the assembled mages. "I have brought for you water, for the journey."

Gray slipped the canteen into his pack and, while he was at it, pulled out an extra shirt. Pulling his t-shirt over his head, he paused when Lucy started laughing again.

"What now?" he muttered.

"I know it's hot," Erza said, scowling at him, "but can you not strip in the middle of town?"

Gray stared at her blankly for a moment and then rolled his eyes. Dropping the discarded shirt into his bag, he tugged on the spare one.

"Chill out," he grumbled. "I'm just changing."

Her eyebrows rose, but it was Natsu who vocalized what everyone was thinking.

"What in the world are you doing?" he asked. "I can see why you'd do your stupid stripping thing because it's hot, but why the hell are you putting more clothes on? And long sleeves? Really?"

Gray sighed. "Relax. It's lightweight material, it's white so it will reflect heat better, and the long sleeves will protect my skin from the sun," he explained.

"That doesn't make sense," Natsu muttered.

"No, your friend is wise," their guide interrupted. "You have pale skin, unused to strong sun, yes? Also, it will help prevent dehydration."

Gray nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, pretty much."

The first time he had been in a desert, it had seemed counterintuitive to cover up. His first thought had been to strip down because it was hot, but his skin went from white to burned in a heartbeat under the harsh desert sun. The last thing he needed right now was to end up with burned and blistered skin before they'd even found the troublesome dark guild. He would have thought that his skin would be able to handle the sun better with how often he lost his shirt, but his first desert experience had quickly disabused him of that notion.

"I think it's just because he wanted to attract more girls to his harem with his strip tease," Lucy disagreed, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

Gray fought back a scowl. He had had just about enough of that, and he was going to put a stop to it right now. Instead of glowering at the annoying blonde, Gray gave her an indulgent smile.

"I'm sorry, Lucy," he apologized, keeping his voice pleasant. "I didn't realize that you were so jealous. I should have thought about your feelings."

Lucy immediately turned red and tried to backpedal. "I'm not–not…you…I…"

"It's okay, Luce," Gray said kindly, trying to smother a laugh at how easily flustered she was. "I'll try to be more considerate of your feelings in the future."

"She lllllllikes him!" Happy purred, snickering.

Lucy buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God."

Erza, Natsu, and their guide were all staring at the pair with flabbergasted expressions, and Gray finally started laughing as he took in everyone's faces.

"How about I make you a deal, Lucy?" he said, grinning at her as she peeked out at him from between her fingers. "If you stop trying to make me into the Casanova of your latest romance novel, I'll stop teasing you. Truce?"

"Truce," she said gratefully, although she still looked terribly embarrassed.

"Good. If you need a model for your novel that badly, pick on Natsu. He's got pink hair. That's, like, the color of love or whatever. Although you might have to make him into the heroine with hair like that…"

"Hey!"

Gray snickered, pleased to have managed to annoy Natsu as well. It was honestly the least that fool deserved right now.

"I may have spoken too hastily," the guide remarked, eyeing Gray and the others with a mixture of amusement and disbelieving bewilderment. "Perhaps 'wise' was too strong a word."

Gray just chuckled and brushed it off. The guide's interjection reminded everyone of the mission at hand, and the Fairy Tail mages quickly settled back down to business.

"We go now," the villager said.

"Lead on," Erza agreed.

The group headed out of the town. Erza and Lucy were talking about what they had found in the marketplace and asking their guide questions, Happy and Natsu chiming in from time to time. Gray tried to pay attention, but now that his good humor was fading, he was hyperaware of the heat again. It was making him tired and sluggish, so he walked along mostly in silence, although he occasionally offered a comment or two.

The edge of the desert was only a few miles outside the town, and Gray reflected that it was kind of weird how clear and abrupt the shift was. The others crossed it like it was nothing, still caught up in their conversation, but Gray hesitated a moment at the edge, staring down at that line of sand.

If he was being honest with himself, it wasn't only the word 'desert' that had made him have such a strong reaction to this job. The truth was that although Gray had been in a few different deserts before, he had also been in this particular one. This was the same desert he had almost died in a couple years back—the last one he had faced before swearing off of deserts entirely.

It would definitely be different this time. For one, he wasn't on his own. Aside from that, he was better prepared to deal with this desert now, because he had learned valuable lessons last time and wouldn't make the same stupid mistakes again. The only danger this desert held now was bad memories. That was all.

There was a slight scuffing sound behind him and he jumped in surprise, whipping around to see Natsu standing there, an unusually solemn expression plastered on his face. Gray stared back stupidly, wondering how he hadn't noticed Natsu falling behind him. He must have been pretty distracted.

"Are you okay?" Natsu asked.

Gray couldn't read his tone or expression, and had no idea what his friend was thinking. Well, regardless, this wasn't the time to be having second thoughts. He forced a smile and turned back to study the edge of the desert again.

"Yeah," he said. "It's fine."

Footsteps crunched quietly in the sand as the dragon slayer moved up to stand beside him. Gray glanced over, noticing that Natsu was watching him with that strange, somber expression again. He didn't know what to make of it.

Natsu arched an eyebrow and lifted a foot as he made to cross into the desert. Gray nodded silently, let out a breath, and stepped into the desert alongside his friend.

* * *

The journey to the village was two and a half hours of misery. Sure, Gray was more uncomfortable than anything else and the heat wasn't too hard to handle yet, but he was still relieved to see their destination appear.

"I take you to meet our leader," the guide said as they walked up to the little cluster of houses. "He wishes to explain to you our problem and offer you dinner."

Gray nodded absently and wiped some of the sweat off his face, grimacing slightly at the sticky dampness. He didn't get why some people actually liked the heat, if only because sweating was so damn annoying. Pushing aside his discomfort, he let Erza do the talking as he studied the client village curiously.

It was small, with perhaps a few dozen adobe houses and outbuildings. A few dark-skinned villagers bustled about, eyeing the outsiders with a mixture of curiosity and wariness as they were led to a large building at the other end of the encampment. Their guide briefly introduced them to the tall man standing just inside who was the leader of the village, and then ducked back out.

"Hello," the leader said, smiling at the little group. His voice had a slight, lilting accent, but he spoke the common tongue perfectly. "I am grateful that you have come to help us. Please come inside."

He ushered them out of the entranceway and into a larger room where a table was set with earthenware dishes. The mages obediently sat down when he gestured for them to do so, and a couple villagers appeared from another room and quietly began dishing out food. Gray settled back gratefully. There wasn't any artificial cooling here, but the building was built to be functional and it was much cooler than the outside air.

"I would be honored if you would dine with me," the man told them. "We can discuss the nature of our problem over dinner, and then I have had rooms prepared for you to spend the night, since it will be too late to start traveling by the time we have finished."

Gray nodded in acceptance. The train ride had been long, they had been delayed at the town, and then they'd had to walk a couple hours just to get here. All that had taken up most of the day already, and it would be impractical to go chasing after a dark guild at night.

Erza opened her mouth, but Natsu managed to speak up first, making Gray wince slightly since he was not exactly known for being diplomatic.

"Okay, so you're the leader guy," the dragon slayer said. "But can you repeat your name? I didn't catch it when you were introduced."

Thankfully the village leader looked more amused than offended, and good-naturedly repeated his name. It was in the traditional tongue and was just as impossible to remember this time as it had been when their guide had spoken it a few minutes before.

"I don't think I can even say that," Natsu said, pulling a face.

The leader laughed. "Outsiders often have difficulty pronouncing our names," he replied with a smile, clearly familiar with this complaint. "You are welcome to call me whatever you wish."

Natsu immediately perked up, and Gray sensed a moment of epic stupidity coming on.

"Ooh, can I call you Bob?"

Gray groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did he have to put up with such an idiot?

"No," he said with a shudder. "That sounds too much like Master Bob from Blue Pegasus, and we definitely don't want that."

Natsu pouted, but brightened after a second. "Oh, I know! Why don't we do codenames? I've always wanted to do codenames." He narrowed his eyes and studied their host, who looked faintly bemused. "You can be…Desert Hawk. Yeah."

"Codenames?" Lucy asked skeptically.

"Yeah, it makes us sound cool," Natsu said happily. "I can be Fire Dragon. Happy can be…Blue Jay."

"That's so lame," Happy complained. "How come you get to be a dragon and I'm a stupid bird?"

"Because you're blue and you fly like a bird," Natsu explained patiently. Then he turned to study Gray thoughtfully. "You can be…Puddle."

Gray stared at him. "Puddle," he repeated flatly.

Natsu shrugged. "Well, I was going to say Snowman, but then I thought that snowmen melt in the heat, so in the desert you would be a puddle."

Gray wasn't sure whether to laugh or smack Natsu upside the head, but luckily Lucy intervened before he had time to decide.

"What about me and Erza?" she asked.

"Oh no," Erza interrupted, frowning at Natsu. "I don't want to hear what he comes up with for us. In any case, you're being impolite, Natsu. Be quiet and eat your food." The dragon slayer shrugged and began attacking his meal with vigor, and Erza turned to their host. "I apologize. He isn't our brightest mage, but he doesn't mean to be rude."

The newly-christened Desert Hawk had watched Natsu's antics with an air of amusement, and now smiled reassuringly at Erza.

"It is alright," he told her. "He is just very enthusiastic." He tilted his head slightly to study Natsu. "Just out of curiosity, why Desert Hawk?"

Natsu smirked around a mouthful of food. "You live in the desert and your nose reminds me of a hawk's beak."

That sounded vaguely insulting, but thankfully the village leader didn't seem offended. All the same, Erza seemed prepared to step in and distract him just in case he changed his mind.

"Would you like to tell us about this dark guild?" she asked, clearing her throat to get everyone's attention.

The leader nodded and began talking, and Gray absently picked at his food as he listened. The temperature was starting to cool off a little as evening drew closer, but it was still hot and he didn't have much of an appetite. It seemed rude not to eat anything, though, so he methodically worked on choking some of it down.

"It was perhaps three or four months ago when the dark guild moved into our desert," the leader explained. "At first we did not know what they were doing and they did not bother us, so we left them alone. Then, about two months ago, they began raiding our village. They take our food and water and horses. We are a peaceful people and none of us have magic of our own even if we wanted to fight back, so we tolerated this behavior for a time.

"Then, a few weeks ago, they began taking our people. They took many of our young men, and also our…ah, I am unsure what you would call her. A wise woman, perhaps? She is learned in the old ways—storyteller and healer both. We have tolerated the raids until now, but I cannot allow these outsiders to kidnap my people."

Erza frowned, abandoning her meal to tap her fingers thoughtfully against the table's surface. "Why would they want your people? And what are they doing here in the first place? Your request mentioned something about a lost city and an amulet. How do those fit in?"

The man grimaced faintly. "There are stories among many tribes of a great city that once ruled this land but has long since been lost to the sands. The people of this city laid claim to a good deal of gold and jewels, which were lost with the city when it was swallowed by the sands. It has been a draw for treasure hunters ever since. The city's location is unknown to most, but this dark guild somehow received a tip that it was nearby. They have been excavating this area, but were not having much luck until a few weeks ago.

"They had an interest in us only because we are the closest village—an easy source of supplies for them to take at will. However, they must have learned that we know where the city is, and that is when they began the kidnapping. I believe they took our wise woman because she is the keeper of the old ways and knows all about the legend. I cannot imagine that she told them the location because it is a very taboo place to us, but somehow they found it anyway. They have been taking our young men to force them to help dig up the ruins. One of those men escaped and told us that the guild has discovered the city and is currently uncovering it in their search for the amulet."

Lucy nodded slowly. "What exactly is so special about this amulet?"

Gray gave up on eating and surreptitiously transferred the remainder of his food to Natsu's plate, since the dragon slayer had already wolfed down his meal and looked like he was considering asking for seconds. Natsu frowned over at him and raised an eyebrow in silent question, but Gray just shrugged and turned his attention back to the story being told.

"To understand the power of the amulet, I must tell you the legend of the city," their host said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair to find a more comfortable position. "We were once a nomadic people, as many desert tribes are. Long ago there were fewer permanent villages, and most tribes roamed the sands. One of these tribes was particularly warlike and worshipped a fearsome god that controlled the winds and sands of the desert, using his powers to kill and destroy as he wished.

"At first the tribe was not bothered because they believed they had some immunity because of the worship they gave this god, but then something changed. Some of the stories say that they just got greedy and power-hungry, while others say that their god turned on them and sent desert storms to destroy them. Whatever the case, they decided that they needed a way to control their god. This god had a book, a large tome of spells and enchantments that he drew power from. The tribe set out to hunt down this book and eventually found it, stealing it right out from under their god's nose.

"This gave them some control over their god, but it was not enough for them." He sighed again and frowned contemplatively at the table. "They got greedy for power, realizing that with the power of their god behind them, they would be unstoppable. So they created the amulet. It was made of a large ruby that their magicians layered with binding enchantments and used to seal their god. They found a way to channel the god's power through it and used it to subjugate the other tribes, forcing them to pay tribute and work in the mines of gold and jewels that were discovered in the sands.

"They became very powerful and built up a colossal city in which to hoard their wealth, abandoning their nomadic lifestyle. For many years they ruled the desert, but they became complacent. The binding spells on the amulet were not permanent, and the seal began to weaken. One day it cracked, and the damage to the stone was enough to let the god trapped inside lash out. He unleashed his wrath on the city and its inhabitants, who were buried under the sands. Everyone there died and the storms raged for days, but in the end the seal was not weakened enough for the god to escape completely and he fell silent.

"The amulet is buried within the city, and it is very dangerous still. If the dark guild finds it, they could perhaps use its power to further their own dark ends. Alternatively, with the seal weakened, it is also possible that the amulet would be uncontrollable and unleash enough power to lay waste to the entire area. Neither outcome is ideal, which is why I am asking you to stop these people before they uncover a magic too dangerous for them to handle."

Silence fell over the gathered mages, who exchanged uncertain glances.

"How much of this legend do you actually believe?" Lucy asked finally.

"All of it," the leader replied solemnly. "The city is real and we have known of its existence for a long time. It is a forbidden place to us, and my people will not set foot there willingly. Do not underestimate the power of the amulet. It is dangerous."

Gray remained quiet as Erza asked a few more questions. None of the questions were important enough to really catch his attention, not when something else about the story had unsettled him. He was so distracted thinking about the oddity that he barely noticed when the meal came to an end and they were pointed down a hallway to where rooms had been set up for them.

Once they were out of earshot of their host, they began discussing the situation quietly.

"How much of this story do you think is actually true?" Lucy asked.

Erza shrugged. "It seems like the villagers believe it all, and although I think that some of it might be fiction, the legend is probably at least based on fact. We shouldn't take anything for granted."

"Except that there's a god trapped in an amulet," Natsu said dryly.

Gray looked up. "A god seems unlikely. I don't believe in that. But that doesn't mean that this amulet isn't dangerous. It's possible that it's nothing more than a folktale, but it could also contain powerful magic, god or not. But there's also another possibility…"

He trailed off for a moment, frowning at the floor again. "Did you notice that he mentioned that this 'god' somehow got his power from a book? That sounds less like a god and more like a demon."

There was a collective intake of breath, and he suspected that he'd see some pretty interesting expressions if he looked up.

"I didn't even consider that the book might be important," Happy muttered.

"It might not be." Gray shrugged. "Honestly, the whole thing is probably a fake. The chances of it being a demon are very low, but…it seemed like an odd coincidence."

"The tribe did supposedly worship this entity as a god," Erza said slowly. "A demon by any other name…Well, you're right that it's unlikely, but we can't dismiss it out of hand."

"Would the sealing thing work if it was a demon?" Lucy asked. "I mean, a demon of the Books of Zeref would be very powerful, and it sounds like the tribal mages just used a few spells. I thought that sealing such a powerful demon would have to be more…"

She trailed off and Gray flinched. Glancing up, he saw that a horrified look had crossed her face and she had clamped a hand over her mouth as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Sacrificial?" he suggested tightly.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't mean…"

He waved her off and smiled wanly. "I wouldn't know since I only have experience with…with one type of sealing." He pursed his lips and returned his gaze to the ground. "Most spells with the power to seal something of that magnitude have at least some kind of sacrificial component, though. Perhaps there _was_ a sacrifice and the details were lost to history. On the other hand, perhaps the reason the stone cracked in the first place was that the sealing ritual wasn't powerful enough. Then again, there's no real proof that this is a demon at all. I just thought I'd point it out as being a possibility, however unlikely."

There were some halfhearted nods and Lucy apologized profusely a few more times before disappearing into one of the rooms with Erza. Gray pushed his way into the other room, Natsu and Happy following behind him. The room was sparsely furnished with only a couple low beds and a door that presumably led to some kind of restroom accommodations.

He was about to lay claim to one of the beds when Natsu shut the door, grabbed his arm, and spun him around. Gray made a surprised sound, his eyes widening slightly as he took in Natsu's grim expression. The dragon slayer had been unusually quiet for the past few minutes, but apparently he was ready to say something now.

"What–?"

"I don't know if this is a demon," Natsu said. He leaned forward to stare at Gray, something cold and hard glinting in his eyes. "But if it is, you will not even _think_ about using iced shell, or I will kill you myself."

Gray stared back at him for several long seconds, too startled to move, and then swallowed thickly. He had no intention of using a spell like that except as a last resort, but if there was no other way to save his friends, then he would use it without a second thought. But that wasn't what Natsu wanted to hear.

"Of course not," he said, averting his gaze. "I don't want it to come to that any more than you do."

Apparently satisfied, Natsu released Gray and immediately reverted to his normal, energetic disposition. "Oh, is that a bathroom? I'm going to go check it out. Maybe there will be something to clean off with," he said cheerfully.

Gray stared after him as he disappeared into the other room and shut the door. Natsu had been acting strangely since… He wanted to say since after the train ride, but he thought that maybe it had gotten worse after they had all split up to look for the guide. And the only thing that would have changed since then…

Gray turned back to look at the small blue cat standing by the door. "Did you tell him something? He's been acting really weird."

Happy shifted uncomfortably and looked away. "He asked about the 'snuggling' stuff and I told him some of it," he said evasively.

"How much did you tell him?" Gray asked suspiciously.

Happy hesitated. "The truth. I told him about how often it happens and why you put up with it."

Gray groaned and rubbed at his face. "And after I thought I'd defused the situation." A thought struck him and he frowned at the little feline. "You told him before he asked me how often he did it, didn't you?"

Happy nodded and Gray let out a breath. What a mess.

"Why would you do that? I thought we had an unspoken understanding to keep him in the dark about that."

"I thought that maybe it was time for him to know," Happy mumbled.

Gray sighed but pushed aside the mix of emotions that came with that revelation. It was something he'd have to address later, but he hadn't missed the fact that Happy was still trying to avoid telling him something.

"What else did you tell him?" he asked. Happy opened his mouth to protest, a look of practiced innocence on his face, and Gray hurried to forestall him. "That might explain some of his behavior, but not all of it. It doesn't explain why he's suddenly looking at me like I'm made of glass, or why he was so happy to drag me on this mission but then offered to call it off. What else did you tell him?"

Happy wavered a moment longer before he flattened his ears and gave in. "I told him that maybe choosing this job was going too far, and that he needed to be more careful next time because you're always a lot more careful."

"What do you mean, I'm more careful?"

"You know, how even when you try to annoy him you're still very careful about choosing jobs that won't hurt him or cross the line. He's just not that careful. And he's so oblivious that he never even notices what you do for him, and I thought that maybe he should know some of it."

Gray closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Letting out a breath, he picked Happy up off the floor and sat down on the nearest bed, depositing the Exceed in his lap.

"I appreciate the sentiment behind what you've done, I really do," he said. "But…I wish you hadn't done that. I pick lots of jobs to annoy him. Yeah, I'm more careful about it, but this is nothing new. Natsu should be having a good time laughing at me right now, not worrying that he's done something wrong. When this is all over and done with, I'll pick out a job to annoy him and the cycle will continue. What he's done here is normal, alright?"

Happy hummed noncommittally and Gray sighed again. Yes, Natsu probably should have realized that he was more opposed to this job than normal and picked something else instead, but it's not like the dragon slayer really knew why it was an issue. It was irritating, but that was the point. Gray would be annoyed for a while, but then he'd get revenge and everything would be okay again. Having Natsu worry about this was discomfiting and unnatural.

"Okay, but I really think that it's good for him to start realizing some of the things you do for him," Happy said. "I mean, it's more fair to you if he understands."

Gray was already shaking his head. "If I really wanted him to know all that stuff, I would have told him. Besides, it's not like I always go out of my way for him—I just follow the rules of common courtesy, and I do it for everyone else too. Happy, I don't do those things because I want anything from him, gratitude included. I do them because I want to, because he's my friend. And anyway, he does lots of stuff for me too and you know it."

"Yeah, maybe one day he should tell you about some of that stuff too," Happy said with a sigh. "Maybe it would be better if you both knew the things you do for each other."

Gray laughed quietly. "I'm sure that I don't know all of it, but I'm not as oblivious as you seem to think I am. I already know quite a bit of it, even if I don't acknowledge it."

"Like what?" Happy asked, tilting his head curiously.

"Well… For example, I know that this isn't my original necklace," Gray said, tugging the chain out from beneath his shirt.

Happy actually recoiled in shock, and then a guarded look settled over his features. "What do you mean?"

Gray rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean, but since you're fishing to see how much I know…" He shrugged. "A couple years back, the clasp of my necklace broke and I lost the damn thing. Searched for it everywhere, but couldn't find it. Natsu brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal, but I know he was looking for it. You know it's true, because I saw you with him."

Happy hesitated but nodded. "Yes, we looked for it. We were the ones who found it, remember? Yeah, we pretended that we just randomly stumbled across it without looking, but I guess you weren't fooled by that."

Gray's smile turned predatory and he leaned forward to look Happy in the eye. "You were the ones who found it, hmm?"

"How much do you know?" the Exceed demanded.

"Well, you two gave it back to me and said you just happened to see it glinting under some bushes near the guild hall. That was already a little suspect because I'd searched all around the guild very thoroughly, but I believed you. For the first thirty seconds, anyway. I could tell that it was a different necklace as soon as he handed it to me. I'll give you credit because it was a very close replica, but the weight was a little different, the chain was a little thinner, and some of the details on the pendant were just a little off."

Happy's mouth opened and closed soundlessly, and Gray chuckled. Natsu and Happy really had never even suspected that he might have figured it out.

"I'll tell you what I think happened, and you can correct me if I'm wrong," Gray said conversationally. "My necklace was lost for nearly a month, I was upset over it, and you and Natsu couldn't find it no matter how much you secretly searched. So you decided to go to a jeweler or a metalsmith and have them make a replica, which you then tried to pass off as the genuine article because you thought that it would make me happy again. Am I close?"

Happy remained flabbergasted for a moment, but finally managed to choke out a question. "And you weren't mad?"

Gray snorted and shrugged. "Nah. It was kind of sweet, although I don't know how you thought you'd explain yourselves if the original ever did turn up again. And it _did_."

"What? You found it?"

He nodded. "I did a job for a woman who sold magical trinkets. One of the things she had was a seeking charm, which could lead you to a missing object if you had enough of a connection to it. I already knew that you'd given me a fake, so I asked her for one and she gave it to me as part of the reward. I used it and found the necklace in Hargeon, of all places. Must've lost it on a solo job or something."

"You found the original and never said anything," Happy said stupidly, trying to wrap his head around that one.

"Sure. It's sitting in my apartment as we speak."

Happy's head snapped up and he frowned at him in confusion. "The _original_ is in your apartment?" Gray nodded. "You're wearing the replica?" Another nod. " _Why?_ "

"Objects aren't usually important in and of themselves," Gray said with a sigh. "They're important because they have a connection to something you care about. The necklace was mostly a reminder for me, of… Well, it was…important." He swallowed and dropped his gaze. "And it's still important. I still wear that one instead sometimes, depending on my mood and what I most need to be reminded of that day."

He rubbed the pendant between his fingers and stared down at it sightlessly. "But not all the time, because this one is important too, even if it's important in a different way. It's a reminder of the friends and family I have now, and of how much they care. That was a pretty elaborate scheme you two pulled off, considering that planning isn't exactly Natsu's forte. I usually wear the replica instead of the original because even though it isn't the same, it's important to me because you and Natsu gave it to me, and because it reminds me that you cared enough to do this for me."

Gray looked up and smiled tiredly at a stunned Happy. "Natsu is oblivious. That's just the way he is, and that's fine. I don't need him to know everything I do for him, and I'm aware of a lot of the things he does for me, even if he thinks he's being sneaky about it. He's oblivious and I'll pretend to be oblivious for as long as I need to, and that works for us. He doesn't need to feel bad that I do so much for him, because the truth is that he does plenty for me too, even if he doesn't always realize it."

The two friends stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before Happy found his voice again. "Gray… Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Natsu picked this job to annoy you and you were really upset about it at first, but today you've been…nice. Why aren't you angrier?"

Gray let out his breath in a deep sigh and leaned back. "He's annoying as hell and I'm not happy that he picked this job," he said bluntly. "And I'll probably stay annoyed until we're out of the damn desert and I get to drag him up Mt. Hakobe for payback. But… He's still my friend, Happy. I'm not going to let him suffer when I know that I can do something about it. Because ultimately, no matter how stupid or infuriating he is, he's still my best friend."

Happy studied him quietly for a few seconds. "Yeah…I think you're nicer than he sometimes gives you credit for."

Gray laughed softly. "He's exactly the same way with me, you know."

"I guess so." Happy hesitated, then leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You do know that with his hearing, Natsu can probably hear us?"

Gray sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know."

Happy blinked in surprise. Apparently he had thought that the ice mage might have overlooked that, but Gray had been friends with Natsu for a long time and was very familiar with the dragon slayer's abilities.

"But then why…?" Happy trailed off in confusion.

When Gray responded, he also kept his voice quiet enough that an eavesdropping dragon slayer wouldn't be able to hear it.

"Maybe for the same reason that you didn't bother reminding me of it until now, even though I'm sure you were aware of it from the very beginning." Happy's ears flattened in embarrassment and he glanced away, confirming Gray's suspicions. "I'm never going to come out and tell him this to his face, but maybe it's something that he needs to know anyway, hm? Really, Happy, you thought I'd forget about his hearing?" He shook his head and smiled faintly. "I'm not as oblivious as you all seem to think I am. Shh… It'll be our little secret, yeah?"

Pressing a finger against his lips in the universal gesture of silence, Gray winked conspiratorially at the cat in his lap.

Happy smiled a little. "Alright."

"Not that you have a great track record of keeping things to yourself."

Happy's ears flattened again. "Sorry. I thought it was the right thing to do."

"It's alright," Gray said, standing up and scooping the little cat into his arms. Crossing the floor in a few quick strides, he deposited Happy on the bed he would share with Natsu, and then returned to sit on the bed he had claimed for himself.

"Well, I'm tired and it's going to be a long day tomorrow," he said, raising his voice back to a normal volume. "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight, Gray," Happy said.

Gray considered slipping underneath the coarse blanket for a moment, but decided against it. The air had cooled off considerably since nights in the desert could get downright chilly, but he didn't want to risk overheating before they'd even started on their trek. Settling himself on top of the blankets, facing away from where Natsu would be sleeping, he tugged off his shirt and closed his eyes.

A couple minutes later, he heard Natsu emerge from the other room and quietly pad across to the bed he would share with Happy.

"'Night, flame brain," Gray mumbled past a yawn. The heat always made him tired and sluggish, and he was dying to get some sleep.

"Goodnight," Natsu said quietly.

There was a strange quality to his voice that let Gray know he had overheard the earlier conversation, but the ice mage didn't acknowledge it. Instead he stayed quiet and tried to sleep, although he found himself awake long after his friends' breathing had evened out. Despite his physical tiredness, Gray's mind was wide awake.

Part of it was that he was worried about the next day and nervous about how this job was going to go. Part of it was because the possibility of facing down another demon disturbed him, no matter how remote it might be. He had never had much luck with demons or deserts, and he didn't look forward to mixing the two.

It took Gray a long time to fall asleep, and even once he did, his sleep was restless. He spent the night plagued by fragmented nightmares filled with swirling sands and bloodthirsty demons that bore a striking resemblance to Deliora.

* * *

 **Note: My inner snark-brat wanted to call this chapter "In which Gray is smarter than he looks and tries to talk some sense into Happy", but I compromised and kept part of the original descriptor. Also, I have a bad habit of setting things up really far in advance...**

 **And seriously, life would be so much easier if Gray and Natsu would just talk to each other like normal human beings so that I didn't have to go to such convoluted efforts to make them communicate ._.**

 **emmahoshi: Ha ha, don't worry, a lot of the later chapters are longer. Yeah, I'm not used to the alternating POVs either, although it got better the longer I wrote this. And yeah, the guide uses broken English and I did mention that he had an accent, so I'm glad you're reading it that way XD Ah well, people will start getting suspicious about Gray's extensive knowledge soon enough :3 It's okay, I had no idea where this story was heading either, for a while. And I suddenly up and changed the plot after chapter 10, so...lol The "neckless" strikes again XD Makes me laugh every time. Yeah, I could use a talking cat middleman too—I'm not that good at communicating with people either x.x And who said anything about running water? :3 There actually isn't any, although that's a super minor detail. Ha ha, yeah, gotta give Happy some credit sometimes.**


	5. Natsu is stuck in the village

**Note: As the chapter descriptor suggests, I had pacing issues here ._. I really wanted the start of the job to be in Gray's POV, but I got stuck having to write something for Natsu even though I didn't have much I wanted to do with him here, so...here's my BS. But hey, next chapter we get into the desert in earnest, and that's when the fun can really start :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 _(In which Natsu just wants to get started but is stuck in the village for breakfast because of pacing issues.)_

* * *

Natsu was the first one awake the next morning, and he really wanted to go back to sleep. But then he remembered that today they would finally be able to get started on this mission, which exciting enough to make him almost forget his tiredness. He was impatient to get going.

Sitting up, he yawned and blinked blearily at the small lump of blue fur curled up beside him. Happy looked so peaceful that Natsu was loath to wake him. Well, maybe he'd just get ready himself before he woke up the others. Give Happy a few more minutes of sleep before Erza came charging in here to drag them out of bed.

Natsu wriggled out from underneath the blanket, careful not to wake Happy, and stood up. He was stretching leisurely when he caught sight of Gray and paused. His friend was lying on top of a tangled mess of blankets, curled into the fetal position, his face scrunched up into a pained grimace. As Natsu watched, he mumbled something incoherent under his breath, shifting restlessly and then curling back into a ball.

If Happy's sleep looked peaceful, Gray's looked anything but. Natsu glanced in between his two friends. He'd rather let Happy sleep, but Gray should probably be woken up. He sighed.

Silently apologizing to Happy, he headed into the bathroom and slammed the door loudly behind him. That should serve to wake up both of them. Satisfied, Natsu busied himself getting ready for the day.

The bathroom was rather Spartan, with just a primitive latrine, a polished mirror, and a small table that bore a shallow basin filled with water. Natsu wondered absently whether leaving water out was normal here or if it was only done to accommodate the guests. Maybe Gray would know—for some reason the ice block seemed to know an awful lot about all things desert-y. Natsu's suspicion was that water would evaporate quickly here, so it probably wasn't normal unless outsiders were involved.

Then he realized that he had just wasted several precious seconds of his life thinking about a bowl of water. Either he was too damn tired or he was going insane. Disgusted with himself, he splashed some of the oh-so-interesting water on his face to help clear his head and then went back into the main room.

Happy had uncurled and was stretching lazily, although he was clearly still half asleep. Gray, on the other hand, had not moved. Natsu frowned over at him, wondering how he could have slept through the banging door. Usually Natsu was loud enough to wake the dead. Maybe he was losing his touch.

"Natsu…?" Happy asked, yawning widely and blinking at him sleepily. "Why do you have to be so loud?"

"Erza will be making us get up soon enough anyway."

Happy's eyes narrowed and he suddenly looked more alert as he frowned at Natsu suspiciously. "So what?"

A smile flickered briefly across Natsu's face. Normally, he didn't care much for timelines and he wasn't an early riser. Erza and her threats had never before convinced him to get up any earlier than he was forced to. Well, almost never. Erza could be scary when she wanted to be.

Natsu nodded towards Gray's sleeping form, and Happy followed his gaze and frowned. Gray grimaced in his sleep, flipped over, and curled into himself again with a noise that sounded almost like a pained whimper. Natsu winced. He'd never heard Gray make a sound like that before.

The dragon slayer and Exceed exchanged looks, and understanding flickered in Happy's eyes.

"Poor Gray," the little cat murmured sympathetically. Natsu hummed in agreement. "You don't think…" Happy trailed off and sighed. "He looked a little rattled at the possibility of this amulet containing a demon. Do you think that maybe…?"

Natsu pursed his lips and shrugged. He didn't know what Gray might be dreaming of, but Happy could be right. Gray had never been fond of demons, and the thought of facing another might have dragged up bad memories. On the other hand, he could be dreaming about a swarm of purple flying frogs with sharp teeth and nasty tempers for all Natsu knew.

"I don't know," he said, "but I'm going to wake him up."

Happy nodded silently and settled down to watch the show.

"Rise and shine, ice princess!" Natsu said at the top of his voice, moving to stand over Gray as he clapped his hands together as loudly as humanly possible right near his head. "Time to get up before Erza hunts us down. Plus I'm hungry, so let's get going."

Gray startled, jerking back instinctively as he was abruptly jolted into wakefulness. His head immediately swung towards the source of the noise, and Natsu could see that his eyes were filled with panic and pain for a brief second before they cleared. He sat up and glanced around groggily. His eyes narrowed as he took note of Natsu, and he started to grumble something under his breath before he snapped his mouth shut, a displeased look flitting across his face. Presumably he had remembered the no-complaining rule just in time.

"I'm up, I'm up," he mumbled, yawning and rubbing at his eyes.

"About time," Natsu said, smirking at his friend. "I'm already ready to go, so hurry up."

Happy shifted positions on the other bed and Gray whipped around at the sound. For a second Natsu could make out the fear in his expression, see the way his face paled and his hands clenched into defensive fists. So. Not frogs then.

Gray pulled himself together almost immediately, covering the remnants of emotion left over from his nightmares with a more neutral expression.

"'Morning, Happy," he said. Pulling himself out of bed, he headed for the bathroom, his strides just a touch too quick. "Give me a minute to get ready."

He paused in the doorway for a second and turned back, his eyes raking over the room as if he was searching for something. Natsu's gaze caught on the silver sword hanging against his chest, and he stared at it thoughtfully until Gray frowned and vanished into the other room, the door closing quietly behind him. Natsu stayed still for a few more moments, staring at the closed door.

"What are you looking at?" Happy asked.

Natsu finally tore his gaze away from the wood and looked back over at the Exceed.

"I can't believe he knew that we gave him a fake necklace this whole time and he never said anything," he muttered, keeping his voice low since he knew from experience that sound carried through the walls. "And that he still wears it even though he found his old one is… strange. I never realized he was that weirdly sentimental."

"Oh, you heard us last night?" Happy asked, something almost amused flickering in his eyes for a split second before being replaced with the faintly surprised expression Natsu had expected. He didn't know what Happy would have to be amused about. He must've imagined it.

"Yeah. I don't know why he told you but not me," he grumbled, scowling.

Happy hid a smile behind one paw. "Maybe he likes me better."

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It's not very fair, though."

"If it bothers you that much, why don't you ask Gray about it yourself?" Happy asked, a sly smirk spreading across his face.

Natsu's scowl deepened and he glowered at the floor. "Hell no." He paused. "Besides, he wouldn't be pleased to know that I overheard him," he reasoned.

"Oh, certainly not," Happy purred, smiling at a joke only he understood.

Natsu frowned at him suspiciously, wondering what he seemed to find so amusing about this whole situation. Maybe he was still just smug that Gray had told him all this stuff instead of Natsu. He was just trying to annoy the dragon slayer. Not that Natsu was annoyed. He definitely didn't care that Gray had told Happy instead of him. Not at all.

"Sometimes I get the feeling that you're playing both sides," he groused.

"Well, you two are too stubborn and stupid to just communicate with each other directly," Happy said, rolling his eyes. "Is it really so surprising that you need a middleman?"

Natsu snorted and shook his head. "I think you just like to be in the middle of things."

A sudden banging sound, not terribly loud but abrupt, pierced the air, and both Natsu and Happy automatically swiveled to look at the closed door to the bathroom. Natsu's sensitive ears could pick up the sound of Gray muttering under his breath, but he couldn't make out what his friend was saying.

"Is he alright?" Happy asked.

"Yes," Natsu said shortly.

Gray might still be a little rattled from the dreams, but he'd be fine once he'd had a few minutes to calm down. He was going to be fine about the nightmares and the desert and everything else, because Natsu would make sure of it.

"Do you think we should stay and keep an eye on him?" the Exceed inquired, still staring at the door unblinkingly.

Natsu shook his head. Gray wouldn't want them hovering over him. The easiest way to smooth this over was to not acknowledge it.

"Nah, let's give him some time to settle down and pull himself together. Why don't we go see if Lucy and Erza are up?"

"Alright," Happy said reluctantly.

"You know the no-acknowledgement rule," Natsu said, patting him on the head reassuringly.

"Do I ever," Happy grumbled. "You two are so stubborn about showing that you care."

Natsu just laughed.

"Hey, Gray!" he called, raising his voice. "We're going to go see if Lucy and Erza are awake."

"Fine, fine," Gray responded distractedly, his voice slightly muffled through the door. "You go do that."

Natsu and Happy filed out of the room and into the hallway. Natsu was just raising his hand to knock on the door of the room across from theirs when it suddenly swung open to reveal Erza standing in the doorway, dressed and ready to go. The three of them all blinked at each other in surprise for a second, before Erza nodded sharply.

"Oh good, you're finally awake," she said. "I was just coming to get you. We need to get started soon to take advantage of the cooler morning temperatures. The villagers have already prepared supplies and things for us, and our host has invited us to breakfast."

Natsu stared at her blankly. "Just how long have you been up already?"

"At least forty five minutes," she replied with a shrug. "I was talking to the village leader to get more details about our mission. I would have woken you up earlier, but I figured I might as well let you sleep in since we couldn't go until the villagers finished packing our supplies anyway." She shut the door to her room and stepped out into the hall. "I already sent Lucy on ahead to breakfast. Get Gray and let's go."

"He's getting ready," Natsu said, shaking his head slowly. And here he had thought that he'd gotten up early and Erza wouldn't have anything to complain about. "I'll just let him know where we're going so that he can join us when he's finished."

Erza shrugged dismissively and started down the hall. "Tell him to meet us in the same room we dined in last night," she called over her shoulder as she walked away.

Natsu ducked back into the room he had shared with Gray and Happy.

"Hey, ice block!" he called. Gray grunted in acknowledgement. "Everyone is meeting up for breakfast in the same room we had dinner in."

"Yeah, okay," came Gray's voice from the bathroom. "I'll be there in a minute."

Satisfied, Natsu followed after Erza, Happy flying by his side. The dining room wasn't difficult to find since the building wasn't very large, and Natsu sat down at the table, starving and eager to eat. Lucy and Desert Hawk were already seated, and they broke off their conversation as Natsu and the others entered the room and settled around the table.

"Good morning," the village leader said pleasantly. "I hope you found your accommodations acceptable and were able to have a restful night?"

Natsu stared at him blankly, trying to puzzle that out.

"He wants to know if you slept well," Erza said dryly when he didn't immediately respond.

The dragon slayer scowled. "I knew that," he muttered, wondering why the man couldn't have just said that in the first place if that was what he had meant.

"Sure you did," Gray scoffed as he appeared in the doorway, threw Natsu an amused look, and took a seat by Erza.

Natsu muttered something unflattering under his breath before deciding to ignore him. With a monumental effort, he turned back to Bob the Desert Hawk instead of shooting a snippy comment back at his friend.

"I slept like a log, thanks," he grumbled. Then he narrowed his eyes at Gray thoughtfully. The ice mage looked much better and more collected than he had when he had first woken up, but there were faint dark smudges under his eyes, and he was currently trying to hide a yawn behind one hand. "What about you, droopy eyes?"

Gray threw him a sharp look, trying to decide whether he actually knew anything or not, before shrugging it off and apparently deciding that the question was just a natural extension of the conversation.

"Sure, I slept fine," he said with an almost genuine smile.

Sure he had. Natsu let it drop in favor of focusing on his breakfast. He was starving and Gray could take care of himself.

"I am glad to hear it," Not-Bob said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Then he sobered as he got down to business. "My people have prepared packs for you to take on your journey. Unfortunately we have no horses to give you since the dark guild has taken them, so you will have to go on foot. It is perhaps a one-day walk, and we have given you extra food and water in case of unforeseen emergencies. The city is a forbidden place that brings only bad luck and curses, so my people will not willingly set foot there. As such, I am afraid that I will be unable to offer you a guide to the site, but we shall provide you with a map to help you on your way."

He turned to Erza. "You asked to speak to the boy who escaped from the dark guild and returned here. I sent someone to look for him, and it seems that he is out fetching water, but when he returns he will be brought here so that he can tell you what he knows."

Erza nodded. "That would be great, thanks. As long as he comes back soon. I'd prefer it if we could get going as quickly as possible. I was planning to leave as soon as we finish breakfast."

"Yes," Desert Hawk said, nodding. "The sooner you leave, the better. It is better to travel early. The boy should be here soon, hopefully before you finish eating." His gaze came to rest contemplatively on Gray. "Speaking of which, is the food not to your liking?" he inquired politely. "Is there something else I could get you that you would prefer?"

Gray startled and flushed, and Natsu peered at him curiously. Now that the leader had pointed it out, he realized that Gray had mostly just been pushing food around his plate distractedly instead of actually eating it.

"I'm sorry," Gray mumbled, his gaze sliding off to the side. "No, it's very good, thank you. I'm just not very hungry."

Desert Hawk frowned. "You will have a long journey today. You should eat to keep up your strength."

Gray smiled sardonically and poked at his food with a marked lack of enthusiasm. "Don't I know it."

It occurred to Natsu that perhaps Gray didn't have much of an appetite this morning because he was still shaken up from the nightmares. He glanced over at Happy, wondering what he would think of that hypothesis, only to see that the little cat seemed just as unenthusiastic about his meal. He was picking at the food and, although he was eating it, his expression was almost glum.

"You aren't hungry either?" Natsu asked in disbelief. Happy could normally eat plenty.

Happy started in surprise and hurriedly stuffed some food in his mouth. "I'm eating, I'm eating," he mumbled past a mouthful of food.

"You're making us look like savages," Erza admonished. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

Gray chuckled and propped his chin on one hand as he studied Happy in amusement. "Who knows? Maybe flame brain over there decided that this job would have the extra bonus of annoying you too."

Happy frowned in confusion, and Natsu felt his own face wrinkle into a bewildered expression. He didn't know what Gray might be talking about any more than Happy did.

"I don't understand," Happy said, at a loss.

"Well, you know what they don't have much of in the desert?" Gray smirked and winked at the little feline. "Fish."

Happy started laughing. "Ah, Natsu is so mean!"

Natsu's lips twitched upwards. Someone seemed to be in a better mood now.

"Don't worry," he said, his eyes sparking with mischief. "I went through all this trouble for the sole purpose of annoying you and only you, ice princess."

Gray's smile widened slightly as he turned his attention back to his almost-untouched plate of food.

"You are not what I expected," the village leader remarked, his gaze resting contemplatively on the bickering mages.

"What _were_ you expecting then?" Lucy asked.

He shrugged. "As I have said, none of my people possess magic. The only real experience we have with wizards outside of brief exchanges has been with this dark guild, and it has not been pleasant. I suppose that I expected you to be more serious, perhaps frightening. You are friendlier and more, ah, _amusing_ , than I had anticipated."

"Not all mages are like the ones in dark guilds," Lucy said with a shrug. "We're people just like the rest of you. Some of us are mean and nasty, sure, but some of us are friendly and fun-loving."

"However, don't let that fool you," Erza interrupted, her eyes hardening and glinting with steely determination. "We might seem like silly jokesters now, but it's a bad idea to cross us when we get serious. Don't worry, friendly or not, we won't have any problem getting rid of this dark guild and rescuing your people. We can be scary as hell when we need to be."

An apologetic look flashed across the leader's face as he seemed to realize that his words could have been taken as insulting. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Gray hurriedly stepped in to lighten the mood.

"Well, except for Natsu," he drawled, smirking at the dragon slayer. "It's the hair that ruins it. No one can take him seriously when he has pink hair."

Natsu rolled his eyes and made to defend himself, but broke off as a teenage boy—hey, maybe this guy could be Bob? Gray had only said that the _leader_ couldn't be Bob—suddenly appeared in the doorway. Bob the Boy said something in a different language, and Desert Hawk looked over at him. The two conversed for a few seconds before the leader looked back at the assembled mages.

"This is the boy who escaped from the cursed city." He motioned for the teen to take a seat at the table, and the boy obediently sat. "He will answer any questions that you have for him."

Not-Desert-Hawk-Bob smiled at them uncertainly and twisted his hands together. "Hello," he said tentatively, his speech heavily accented. "You ask question, yes?"

Natsu studied him doubtfully, wondering how well he would actually be able to understand them. If Erza had similar concerns, she brushed them off in favor of getting started.

"How long ago did the dark guild kidnap you?" she asked, starting off with the easy questions.

The boy frowned faintly and asked the leader something in that other language again. Desert-Hawk-who-was-not-Bob made a brief reply and Bob nodded in understanding. Then Bob-who-was-a-Teenage-Boy-and-Not-the-Village-Leader-but-who-was-Called-Bob-Anyway-and–

Natsu shook his head sharply. Now he was just confusing himself. Forget the whole Bob thing—he didn't have enough brain cells for it this early in the morning.

"The…the 'dark guild' raid village again three week ago. They took me and others to place where city hides under the sands," the boy said. Something dark flashed in his eyes and he shuddered. "City is bad place. It is…" He paused as he searched for the word. "Cursed. We no go to city. Bad spirits curse people stupid enough to go. I lucky to escape with life." He looked at them, hope sparking in his eyes. "You are wizards who will save my friends, yes? They still trapped in city and I could not help them."

Natsu felt a faint stab of sympathy for him. He didn't know what had happened in that city, but the poor kid seemed pretty traumatized.

"Sure, we're going to save your friends," he said confidently.

The village boy smiled at him hesitantly, and Natsu grinned back.

"How many people did the guild take?" Lucy asked. "We need to make sure that we rescue everyone."

"Dark guild took nine of us. Now eight still trapped."

Erza nodded thoughtfully. "Can you tell us what exactly the guild made you do and why? Also, if you know any useful information about their setup or about how many enemy wizards there are, that would be helpful. We were told that they also took your 'wise woman'. Could you tell us what they wanted from her too?"

The boy's eyes clouded with confusion. "'Wise woman'?" he repeated helplessly. He looked to the leader again, who said something in that strange language of theirs. His eyes cleared. "Ah, I see."

Desert Hawk continued speaking, presumably clarifying what Erza had asked, and the Fairy Tail mages waited patiently until the duo had finished conferring.

"Dark guild make us dig," the boy said finally, turning back to them again. "They dig also, but they want to be more…more fast. I no know how many enemy wizards, but at least…three…ten? Three-ten? Thirteen? Ah, thirteen. Maybe few more. They took…'wise woman' to make her show them place where city is buried. She did not want tell them, but they threaten life of my friends until she agree.

"City is very big and will take long time to dig up, but by time I escape, large parts already unburied. We find many buildings filled with gold and, ah, jewels. Dark guild is very happy and wants it all. They plan to put it on our horses and take it away, but they no leave until they find…find, ah, 'amulet', is it?

"'Wise woman' says amulet is in temple and eventually we find it, but it has, ah…they call them spells. Spells of protection? Well, temple is protected and only part dug up because digging is slow. It is slow because curse of city brings bad luck. People fall ill and accidents happen. Everything is bad, bad luck. Dark guild has not found amulet yet, but they will soon, I think."

Natsu wasn't sure he believed in any kind of curse. Accidents could happen well enough without one. The part about the temple being protected by some kind of spell or enchantment was plausible, though.

Aside from that, they still didn't know what exactly this amulet was or how powerful it might be. He glanced sidelong at Gray. Or if it might be a demon or 'god'. They didn't have a reliable estimate of how powerful the dark guild might be either, because he doubted that a boy with no experience of magic would give any useful information there.

All in all, there were just too many unknowns. They had some basic logistical facts, but most of their information came from a legend—a legend that's truth was questionable at best. It was hard to say exactly what they were walking into or how dangerous it might be.

"I don't suppose you could tell us anything useful about the dark mages' powers or the spells on the temple?" Erza asked doubtfully, not looking like she expected much help from this quarter.

Sure enough, the boy shook his head. "I know nothing about spells on temple. But you should recognize temple when you see it. It is in middle of city and is very big. Its outside has many jewels and carvings on it. Other buildings are decorated also, but not so much. As for dark guild…" He shrugged. "They not show us much magic."

Well, that wasn't terribly helpful. At least they had some vague description of this apparent temple and its approximate location, but aside from that… Then Natsu shrugged. He didn't have a problem charging into things blind. That was actually kind of normal for him.

"How did the dark guild treat you and your friends?" Gray asked. "I know you said that they would threaten you sometimes, but aside from that, how did they act towards you?"

Natsu threw his friend a curious look, wondering why this was the question he had chosen to ask. At first he thought that Gray might just be sympathetic towards the kidnapped villagers and want to know how bad the damage was, but the calculating look in his eyes told Natsu that while that might be part of the reason, it wasn't the only one.

"Dark guild mostly just try to scare us," the villager said, after considering the question for a moment. "They threaten us if we protest digging because city is cursed or if we try to run away or if 'wise woman' is not telling them something. If we follow directions and dig without making trouble then they leave us alone. Sometimes they beat us if things are not going right, but mostly they just wave their fancy weapons around and not bother with magic. I think they not want to hurt us too much because they still need us to dig."

Gray leaned back in his chair and nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting," he mused. "It's possible that since none of you have magic or want to fight, they can just get away with threats and the occasional show of strength to keep you in line. On the other hand, I'd think it would be more effective if they had done some demonstration of strength at the very beginning to scare you into helping them without complaint, especially since you're so wary of the city. If they scared you enough in the beginning, then they wouldn't have to worry so much about you ever disobeying them or daring to protest. It might just be that they aren't terribly strong mages and use more mild intimidation to make themselves seem more powerful than they actually are."

Natsu blinked at him in surprise, and felt a hint of grudging respect for his analysis. They could only draw so many reliable conclusions, but it was better than nothing.

"Wow," Lucy blurted out. "That's actually smart." Gray looked over and gave her a flat stare, and she flushed in sudden embarrassment. "Sorry, I didn't mean–"

"Sure, every once in a while I manage to overcome my natural stupidity for a second or two," Gray said dryly, arching an eyebrow at her. She winced, but he just shrugged and returned his gaze to the village boy. "I _am_ interested in these 'fancy weapons' of theirs. Dark guilds don't usually bother with them unless their magic uses them or they've found a powerful artifact. I don't suppose you can tell us anything else about these weapons?"

The boy thought about it for a second or two, before shrugging helplessly. "They have some kind of magic in them, but I do not know what," he said finally. "I know little about weapons."

Gray didn't look surprised. "Well, I tried."

"Do you have any more questions?" Desert Hawk asked.

The Fairy Tail mages took a few seconds to think about whether or not there were any other pressing questions that needed to be asked. Well, the team minus Natsu did, anyway. Using everyone else's distraction to his advantage, he reached across to snag some of Gray's uneaten food. The ice mage rolled his eyes, but Natsu was unrepentant and happily munched away, unconcerned with coming up with other questions.

His opinion was that they weren't going to get much more useful information out of the kid, so why bother? Besides, they'd be meeting up with this dark guild soon enough, and they'd get all their answers then. Getting answers beforehand was entirely optional.

"Can you describe the leader of the dark guild?" Erza asked finally. "Anything about him at all. What he looks like, personality, whatever."

Oh. Well, that answer could be useful at least.

"He is very tall, with brown hair and, ah, green eyes, I think." The boy frowned down at his hands. "He is more…mean…than others. He is one most likely to give out beatings if anything goes wrong. The others, ah, look up to him but are not so scared of him, I think. They sometimes disagree and he listens. The…the, ah, 'gap' between leader and rest of them is not so big. But leader is the one interested in amulet. Others are interested too, but not so much. They are happy with gold and jewels they find in city, but he is not satisfied without amulet."

Natsu noticed that Gray had that weird, thoughtful look on his face again and looked like he was trying to puzzle something out, but he didn't deign to share whatever was on his mind. No one else seemed to see anything out of the ordinary with the description, and Erza just nodded firmly.

"Alright," she said. "Thank you for your help. I think we have enough information now, and we need to get going as soon as possible."

Desert Hawk nodded and stood. The Fairy Tail mages rose as well, Natsu hurriedly shoving the last of the food into his mouth. No point wasting it.

"Yes, you should be going," the leader agreed. He produced a sheet of paper from his robes and handed it to Erza. "Here is the map I promised you. I apologize for not being able to send a guide with you, but the map should help you find the city without a problem."

"Thanks," Lucy said.

Gray had glanced at her automatically as she started speaking, but now did a double take and stared at her with wide eyes, as if seeing her for the first time. "Lucy, please tell me that you aren't planning on wearing that outside into the desert."

"Huh?" She looked down at herself, unsure of what was so bad about shorts and a black tank top. "What's wrong with it?"

"What's…?" Gray broke off and pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head in disbelief. "First of all, it would really be better if you covered as much skin as possible, but at least don't wear anything black into the desert. Black will absorb heat. Wear something light-colored instead."

Lucy pouted. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"He is right," Desert Hawk said with a faint smile. "If you would like, I can provide you with traditional desert clothing for your journey, if you did not bring appropriate attire."

Lucy gave him and the boy—and their clothing—a dubious look. "Uh, that's okay," she said. "I'd rather wear my own clothes."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not even going to bother saying what's wrong with Natsu's outfit because the idiot could practically live in an oven and enjoy it," he said, scowling. "But honestly, Erza would be better off if she took off that damn breastplate, and Lucy should really wear a light-colored shirt at the very least."

A brief but heated debate ensued as Gray tried to convince the girls to dress more appropriately and the girls firmly maintained that they were quite fine just the way they were, thank you very much. Gray left Natsu alone, but the dragon slayer watched the exchange with no little amusement, wishing he had popcorn.

Finally, Lucy let out a long-suffering sigh. "Fine, I'll change, but there's no way I'm going to wear long sleeves when it's so hot outside."

Gray scowled but held his tongue, apparently deciding to cut his losses. Desert Hawk turned and said something to the village boy, who nodded and left the room.

"He is going to put a change of traditional clothing in each of your bags in case you change your minds later," he said, amusement glimmering in his eyes. "Perhaps when the heat becomes too much, you will find them helpful. Your travel packs will be moved to the edge of the village, for you to pick up as you leave."

Erza nodded, settling back down now that no one was suggesting she leave off her armor. "I'll go grab the things I brought to add to my pack, and then I want to check a couple things before we go. Natsu, Happy, and Gray, go get your stuff and head out to where the packs are going to be. Lucy, you change and then meet them there, and I'll be there in a few minutes."

Everyone nodded and headed their separate ways. Natsu and Happy traipsed down the hall back to the room they had stayed in the night before, a displeased Gray following behind them. Then they grabbed their bags and headed outside to search for the meeting spot. They could probably ask someone for directions, but why bother when they could figure it out for themselves?

"Well, that went better than I expected," Natsu said cheerfully as they exited the building and began walking around it.

Gray's scowl deepened. "Sure it did," he muttered. "You guys never–"

He broke off and clamped his mouth shut with no little difficulty. Natsu threw him an amused look as he glowered at the ground. Man, this no-complaining thing was great. Well, sort of. Natsu kind of missed the complaining, but it was worth it to see Gray get frustrated.

"Sure we listen to you," he said brightly. "We just choose to ignore everything you say."

Gray shook his head and sighed, some of his irritation fading away into weary resignation. "You guys are welcome to do whatever you want, I guess," he said tiredly. "It's just that…I'm not making this stuff up off the top of my head, you know."

Natsu tilted his head to peer at his friend curiously. "Yeah, you seem to know an awful lot about deserts. Why is that?"

Gray shrugged and fixed his gaze on the ground. "This isn't my first time in a desert," he said quietly. "When you have a weakness to something, you do what you have to do in order to survive. You learn what you can and then you make mistakes anyway and learn from those too. When I suggest we do something, I'm not just making it up. These are things I've learned from experience."

Natsu frowned thoughtfully. He hadn't even realized that Gray had ever been in a desert before, to be honest. He had always assumed that Gray would avoid them like the plague because of his aversion to the heat.

"Funny," Happy said, "I didn't know you'd been in deserts enough to learn that much stuff. Why were you in a desert?"

"Damned if I know." Gray sighed tiredly. "Sometimes we do stupid things."

They reached the edge of the village and spotted a pile of large packs waiting for them. None of the villagers were by the pile, but Natsu could see them lurking around, watching the outsiders with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. He shrugged it off, selected one of the packs, and dumped the small bag of things he had brought with him inside. Beside him, Gray did the same.

"So…what happened last time you were in a desert, then?" Happy asked curiously.

Natsu turned his attention back to Gray. He kind of wanted to hear this as well. Because although Gray said that he had been in deserts before and seemed to know a lot about how to survive in them, he'd also had an unusually powerful negative reaction to the idea of travelling to this one. Natsu wanted to know why.

Gray blinked at Happy for a moment and then laughed. The sound was half genuine amusement and half bitter.

"What happened last time?" he repeated, lips quirking upwards into a sardonic smile and eyes sparking with dry amusement. "Not much, really."

"I'm not sure I believe that," Happy said doubtfully.

Natsu didn't believe it either. Something must have happened to make Gray have such an odd reaction to the question. That weird, bitter almost-amusement didn't sit right with him.

Gray shrugged dismissively. "Well, it didn't go very well. That's all."

"In what way?" Natsu pressed.

"Nothing much. It's not as big a deal as you're making it out to be." Something furtive flickered in Gray's eyes, making Natsu question that assertion. "Really, I just overreacted when I saw the word 'desert'." His gaze latched on to something behind Natsu. "Oh look, here come Lucy and Erza. I guess we can finally get started."

Natsu didn't bother looking, opting to keep his unwavering gaze fixed on Gray's face.

"What is it that you aren't telling us?"

Gray clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Nothing. I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of nothing. It's a good thing, isn't it? I've already learned all the tips and tricks on how to survive out here. Stop worrying about silly things. I'll be just fine."

Natsu searched his friend's face before nodding slowly as he tried to push his misgivings out of his mind. Gray seemed very confident. It was obvious that he knew how to survive the desert and that he fully believed he could do it. The doubt lingering in his eyes had probably just been Natsu's imagination.

* * *

 **Note: Sorry if I made your eyes bleed with that one kid's dialogue. My fingers are twitching so badly, I want to go back and turn it all into proper grammar. That part might seem a little repetitive, but I did drop a couple hints there...**

 **Well, I'd call this the conclusion of the first major section of the story (i.e., super long intro material). Next up is the desert part, and then there's one more major part after everything goes to hell :3**

 **emmahoshi: Ha, I just love the idea of Happy playing both sides here. And a smug Happy is a cute Happy XD Yeah, I honestly hate giving utilitarian OCs names. (And yes, that's the real reason why these people speak a different language—so that their names are unpronounceable and I can ignore them XD) Well, I wanted it to be on foot because it will make Gray more miserable, tbh. That's why I made up the thing about the horses getting stolen too, ha ha. Hehe, Natsu's hair is just too easy a target. Yeah, I'd think black absorbing heat should be pretty common knowledge, but FT charries aren't always...well, you know...**


	6. There is a heated debate over a rock

**Note: I was procrastinating editing this chapter because there's a dumb story buried in here that I anticipated having to cut or rework, but I reread it and realized that there are at least three instances of subtle foreshadowing or thematic connection to earlier/later events. And so then I went and looked over the other stories the characters tell in other chapters, and realized that those also have all these links. So that's how I came to the conclusion that past-me was actually smarter than I sometimes give her credit for, even if she was overly fond of clichés and silly ideas. Can't believe I forgot this stuff and was so surprised. Well played, past-me. Well played. I guess storytime stays.**

 **Also, I had to chuckle at the anon reviewer who wanted to shake Gray for his terrible lying last chapter XD Originally that conversation went very differently, but then I reread it and was like, ha ha no. (Past-me wasn't _always_ that clever...) So I rewrote it, and now I have to deal with the author butterfly effect, where all these subtle nuances of the later story need to be tweaked to be brought in line with the new direction I took the last chapter in ._.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 _(In which there is a heated debate over a rock, much ado about a snake, and a disturbing realization.)_

* * *

It was hot, but hey, Gray wasn't complaining. He wasn't allowed to. Sadly, none of the others had the same obligation to keep their mouths shut.

"Good grief, what did they put in these things?" Lucy complained again, readjusting her pack and hefting it onto her other shoulder as the group left the village behind. "It's so heavy!"

Gray knew exactly what was in the packs. Well, he knew exactly what was in his pack, anyway, and he assumed that it was identical to the others'. He had made sure to take stock of the contents before they left, because he knew that it was vital to know what supplies you had if you wanted to survive out here. He _had_ noticed that the promised native robes had not appeared in his bag, and he was hoping that it was because the leader assumed he'd be fine since he had appropriate clothing, and not because there had been an oversight. Gray would be fine without it, but Lucy and Erza might need it later.

"Well, the packs will get lighter," he said with a shrug. "There's a lot of food in them, but most of the weight comes from all the water. As we work through our supplies, the packs will become lighter. Speaking of which…" He let out a breath, his lips quirking downward. "We'll need to save enough water for the return journey, but be careful to stay hydrated. Food is all well and good, but you can do without it for a while if you need to. Water, on the other hand, is vital. Dehydration can kill out here, and it's not pretty. Make sure you drink enough."

Natsu gave him a suspicious look, and Gray forcibly smoothed away his tension. He had made a mistake earlier, admitting that he'd been in deserts before. The last thing he needed was Natsu and Happy asking more awkward questions, so he plastered on a more detached expression.

"Of course," Erza agreed, nodding absently as she squinted at the map in her hands. "Gray's right. Everyone needs to make sure that they drink enough water."

Losing interest in Gray, Natsu peered over Erza's shoulder curiously.

"Oh, hey!" he said excitedly. "This is my kind of map. There's not even any words or anything. It's all pictures."

Gray rolled his eyes. Natsu was hardly illiterate, but he might as well be, with how little he ever read.

"Of course it is," Gray said dismissively. He scowled a little as the sand shifted underneath his feet and he had to windmill his arms to regain his balance. "It's not like the villagers could just write out instructions for us."

"Why not?" Lucy asked.

"Some of the desert tribes that are less modernized don't speak the common languages well," he explained. "Didn't you notice that most of the villagers we met were much more comfortable with their native tongue? It's still a fairly traditional tribe, but my guess is that they've learned to speak the common languages because they trade with outsiders.

"Like the town we were in yesterday, for example, is a trading town. But it's so multiethnic that it's probably not too hard to find someone who speaks your language, and in any case, trade requires only a limited vocabulary. I'd guess that most trade agreements are verbal rather than formally written out, if there's a language difference. In that case, it's unnecessary for the villagers to be able to write other languages and we wouldn't understand if they wrote in their own, so they used pictures and symbols instead."

There was a brief pause, but he quickly became aware that the others were giving him funny looks.

"What?" he demanded.

"You couldn't have just asked them to write directions out so that you could translate them for us?" Erza asked, shaking her head slowly.

Gray's brow furrowed in confusion, and it was his turn to give her a strange look. "Why would I do that? I don't speak their language."

Lucy laughed. "She means that she's surprised you know so much about all these desert tribes."

Gray shrugged and frowned at the ground. He had taken several jobs in or around deserts over the years. The first one had been something of an accident and hadn't ended well. After that, he had kept going back out of a sense of injured pride. It chafed at him that every time he was in a desert things seemed to go wrong. It made him feel weak and stupid, so he had taken a few more jobs to try to prove something to himself, until he had taken one too many and the outcome had shaken him enough that he had decided to accept his failure and abandon the silly venture.

During the period where he had continually tackled desert jobs with a fierce but idiotic determination, he had come into contact with a lot of different tribes and villages. He'd made a point of learning about them, because he could respect the people who lived in these harsh climates and wanted to learn how they did it so that he could survive too. His last, disastrous, desert job had been a couple years ago, but he hadn't just forgotten everything he had learned. The others could tease him about it all they wanted, but this kind of information could be lifesaving.

"I've had some experience with a few different tribes," he said neutrally.

Natsu and Happy were giving him odd looks again and even Erza was frowning slightly, but Lucy seemed unconcerned.

"Why didn't they just send a guide with us instead?" she asked. "I know they don't want to go to the city, but wouldn't it make more sense if they just sent someone to guide us, at least part of the way? Then they wouldn't have had to bother with a map at all."

Gray swiped a sleeve across his forehead and impatiently pushed aside the damp hair plastering itself to his face, grimacing at the uncomfortable sticky feeling. "Because they're scared," he said absently, still distracted by the sun beating down on him.

"Well, yes, I get that they think this place is cursed or whatever, but–"

"No," he interrupted, shaking his head. "It's not just the city they're scared of. It's also the dark guild."

"Exactly," Erza said, glancing around as if searching for something, presumably a landmark from the map. "The leader never came out and said that's what it was—he only cited his people's reluctance to set foot in the city—but it's pretty obvious that they're frightened of the dark guild. They don't have any way to defend themselves, and this guild has been stealing their supplies and people, and is digging up a place they think is cursed.

"They haven't had much contact with mages, so they don't know what to expect. Plus, they're obviously a very superstitious people. For all they know, these dark mages could be omniscient and all-powerful. They're afraid that if they help us, the dark guild will somehow find out about it and retaliate. They had to call us in to help, obviously, and they were very generous in giving us supplies and information, but they want to stay as uninvolved as possible because they're worried that the dark guild will punish them if they do anything more."

The talk of the dark guild reminded Gray of his earlier reservations. There seemed to be something a little off about this guild, judging from all the descriptions he had heard. He briefly considered sharing his suspicions with the others, but decided against it. This was just a hunch and could be completely wrong. Besides, he was having a hard time deciding if it actually made sense or if the heat was already starting to subtly warp his brain. He didn't want to say something stupid and have to deal with Natsu's ribbing. Maybe he'd just think it through some more before sharing his thoughts.

That was easier said than done, though, and he found his thoughts wandering instead. The heat was already starting to make him zone out, and he found it easier to focus on his own discomfort rather than on the conversation. Occasionally he'd offer a vague response to something or other to deflect worry, but he wasn't paying that much attention. Mostly he just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, occasionally adjusting the heavy pack or wiping his brow to get rid of excess sweat.

Because he wasn't paying attention, Horologium's sudden appearance took him by surprise. One second they were all traipsing along happily—okay, maybe 'happily' was too strong a word for anyone besides Natsu—with nothing but sand, sand, and more sand in sight, and the next a giant clock suddenly sprang up out of nowhere.

Gray jumped in surprise and then immediately flushed, hoping that the others hadn't noticed his reaction. After all, if he had actually been listening to the conversation, then he probably would have heard Lucy drop a hint about her intentions.

"Ooh, scared of the big bad clock?" Natsu teased, smirking over at him.

Gray scowled and looked away. Of course Natsu would pick up on his reaction and taunt him about it, because when did the dragon slayer ever pass up the opportunity to make fun of him?

"No," he snapped.

He realized belatedly that his plan to stay polite was quickly spiraling out of control. He really shouldn't be surprised, given that high temperatures tended to make him irritable and out of sorts. Perhaps it was a better idea to abandon the original plan and settle for just being extra careful not to do anything that could be construed as complaining.

"'Hey, Gray, do you want to come in too? It's still hot, but at least the sun isn't hitting me,' she says," Horologium said, relaying Lucy's words.

"No thank you," Gray replied, striving for politeness once more. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Natsu asked, raising his eyebrows. "We wouldn't want you to melt or anything."

Gray bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from scowling or throwing out a snippy comment. "We've only been out here for a couple hours," he said, keeping his voice even. "I'm not that fragile."

 _I'm not that weak._ Maybe Natsu and the others meant well or were just engaging in some good-natured teasing and didn't really mean to imply anything, but it still rubbed Gray the wrong way. He didn't like feeling weak and incompetent. Natsu hadn't thought he'd be able to handle the desert, and Gray fully intended to prove him wrong and make a point.

Hiding away with Horologium would be cheating. Not for Lucy or the others, but for Gray, who had been challenged to survive in the desert and do it without complaint, it would be cheating. Even if Natsu hadn't issued a challenge at all, Gray would have probably still declined the offer because he was trying to prove something to himself just as much as to the others. Maybe that was a silly way of thinking, maybe it was just misplaced pride, but he couldn't exactly help it.

Natsu just shrugged and dropped the subject, and after a few more tries to get Gray to change his mind, Lucy gave up as well. At some point Erza began asking them to help her look for the landmarks on the map, which were often oddly-shaped rock formations or ridges. It at least gave Gray something to help take his mind off of his discomfort, so he kept his eyes open. The annoying thing about deserts—and this desert in particular, as he remembered from his time here a couple years ago—was that sometimes they had few landmarks. This desert was mostly just flat and sandy, with some dunes and the occasional rocky outcropping. There weren't even many cacti or plants, at least not in this part of it.

Gray remembered the monotonous and unchanging terrain well enough to be wary of it. It was one of the reasons he had gotten so thoroughly lost last time, and he didn't want a repeat of that here.

Luckily, Erza was a good guide and seemed confident about finding her way with the map. She did most of the serious navigation, while Natsu and Happy made a game of spotting the markers she directed them to find. Gray would occasionally chime in, and although Lucy's view wasn't great while she was inside Horologium, she helped out the best she could.

And then, suddenly, she wasn't inside Horologium anymore at all. The spirit muttered something about time being up and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Lucy sitting in the sand. She immediately yelped and jumped up, trying to brush all the hot sand off her legs. The others had a good laugh at her expense before getting back down to business again.

Gray quickly noticed, however, that she had been having a much better time of it when she still had Horologium to rely on. The spirit had protected her from the worst of the elements, and had also carried her pack for her. Now that she was stuck walking again, Gray could tell that the heat was starting to get to her, as well as the weight of the bag she was struggling to carry.

"Hey, Lucy," he said. "Catch."

He made sure that she was paying attention before making a chunk of ice roughly the same size and shape as an ice cube and tossing it over to her. Lucy managed to catch it, although it almost slipped out of her fingers as the edges started to melt in the intense heat. With a relieved sigh, she rubbed the ice over her face and neck.

"Thanks, Gray. That feels nice."

Gray nodded and shrugged. "When you need another one, let me know. And make sure you drink some water." He looked over at Erza and raised an eyebrow in question. "Want one?"

Erza hesitated and Gray gave her a hard look. She was tough, but she had to be roasting in that armor. He wondered how long she'd last before giving in and taking it off. He knew that she felt uncomfortable without it on, but it was like an oven in the desert.

"Sure," she said finally. "Thanks."

Gray had the burning desire to drop some ice down Natsu's shirt to get him back for this stupid desert job, but resisted temptation with some difficulty. He would bide his time, for now. Instead, he offered an ice cube to Happy, figuring that the Exceed's fur would ensure that he stayed uncomfortably hot. The little feline gratefully accepted and played around with it until it melted. Ignoring Natsu's teasing, Gray also took the opportunity to cool down a little with his ice, and drank some water for good measure. No point succumbing to heat exhaustion this early in the game.

From that point on, Gray became the go-to man every time someone started overheating. He accepted it with good-natured grace, able to empathize.

He also became quieter and more distracted as the sun rose higher and higher. It would be midday soon, and technically it would be best if they took a break so that they weren't running around during the hottest part of the day. Gray was currently debating the pros and cons of suggesting a halt. It would be good for him and Happy and the girls, but on the downside, Natsu was sure to tease him about it.

Despite his preoccupation, he half-listened to the ongoing conversation. It was centered on desert navigation once again, with Erza instructing them to look for a rock formation shaped vaguely like a horse. Gray had been dubious as to how a rock could really look like a horse, so he had checked the drawing on the map. Apparently there really was a horse-shaped rock out here somewhere.

"Oh hey, how about that?" Natsu asked, bouncing up and down in excitement as he pointed to a large rock rising out of the ground a good ways off to their left. "That looks like a horse!"

Lucy tilted her head and studied it critically. "I don't know, I think it looks more like a donkey."

Gray wondered if the difference between a horse and a donkey was really so pronounced as to be obvious in a rock.

" _I_ think it looks like a cow," Happy disagreed.

Gray stared at them blankly for a moment before turning his gaze to the rock in question. To be honest, it just looked like another giant rock to him. Then again, the heat was making his brain fuzzy and he'd never been very good at that game where you found pictures in clouds, so maybe he was just too stupid and uncreative to see it. Maybe if he tilted his head at the right angle or something, it would look like a horse. Or a donkey or a cow or whatever.

"You guys aren't as much help as you think you are," Erza said with a sigh, shaking her head at the inane debate. She held the map up in front of her and looked between it and the rock for a few seconds. "I don't know…"

"It's totally a horse," Natsu said confidently, pointing out the different features. "Look, there's the head right there and the tail over there, and you can see a couple of hoof things down there."

Erza tilted her head back and forth, scrutinizing the rock thoroughly. "Alright, I guess I see it," she admitted. "Good job spotting it, Natsu. Let's walk over—it marks a point where we're changing direction anyway."

Gray shrugged, content to leave the navigation to Erza, and trailed behind the others as they headed for this horse-rock thing. He quickly tuned out the group's cheerful chatter, not understanding how they all seemed to be as talkative and hyper as usual in this heat.

They were so caught up in debating whether or not the rock should have been drawn as a horse or a cow that they didn't bother Gray when he started to lag behind. And Gray was so preoccupied with the heat and an internal debate over whether or not to suggest a halt that although he was looking down, he wasn't really seeing anything.

Because he was lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the snake curled up in the sand or hear its warning hiss. In fact, he almost stepped right on top of it without even seeing it, but at the last second he heard the dry rattle and saw a blur of motion as the reptile lunged forward to strike at him.

"Oh shit!"

Gray jumped backwards and fell hard in his panic to get away from the snake. Crashing into the sand, he ignored the burning against his palms and hurriedly scrambled backwards, watching the serpent to make sure it didn't come after him again.

"Gray? What happened?" Erza asked, whipping around. Her eyes widened as she saw him scrabbling around in the sand.

"Sorry," he mumbled, pulling himself to his feet unsteadily. He kept a wary eye on the snake, but it had withdrawn and was making its escape. "I almost stepped on a snake."

Natsu eyed Gray and the retreating serpent, and then arched an eyebrow. "So you decided to get on the ground and slither around with it a little?"

Gray scowled as he brushed sand off himself and dug a small rock out of his palm with a wince. Stupid flame brain. It wasn't like he really wanted to be on the ground, but he wasn't going to complain about it, and not only because of the challenge. He had come very, very close to getting bitten.

It was something of a wakeup call. He hadn't been paying attention, and he had nearly gotten himself seriously injured because of it.

"It struck at me," he muttered irritably. "I'd rather be on the ground than dying of a snake bite again."

"Do you want me to kill it for you?" Erza offered, her eyes gleaming wickedly as she watched the snake's retreat and her hand dropping to rest on the hilt of her sword.

Gray snorted. Despite the fact that Erza was generally more mature than the rest of them, she still had a violent streak and was always happy to slice things up with her swords.

"Nah, it's fine," he said, trudging over to where the others had paused to wait for him. "It was my fault—I wasn't paying attention. It would have left me alone if I hadn't almost stepped on it."

Erza shrugged, looking vaguely disappointed by the lack of retaliation, and turned back towards the amorphous rock. The team had barely made it a few paces before something occurred to Lucy and she glanced over at Gray.

"Hey, why did you say 'again'?" she asked. "Have you been bitten by a snake before?"

Gray's footsteps faltered as he stared at her blankly and tried to remember if he had actually said that. Damn the heat for frying his brain. He didn't particularly want to talk about his other desert escapades.

"Oh, nothing," he said after a moment, keeping his voice light as he started walking again. "Slip of the tongue." Technically true.

Natsu gave him a hard look, and even Happy was looking suspicious.

"Well, since we're stuck here without anything better to do, you might as well tell us what happened," Natsu said, his voice deceptively mild.

"I said it was just–"

"Yeah, I don't believe you."

Gray scowled. His big mouth had been getting him into all sorts of trouble lately. "It was a long time ago."

"Ooh, I want to hear about it," Lucy said. "It sounds like a good story."

"It's really not," he replied shortly.

"We'll be the judge of that," Erza said, studying him with unreadable eyes. "Why don't you tell us?"

Gray sighed and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. There was no way to get out of telling the story without raising suspicions now. Awesome. Although…

Maybe there was a silver lining here. He'd made the mistake of telling Natsu and Happy that he'd been in a desert before, and if he could sort of _imply_ that this was what he'd been referencing, maybe he could lay some worries to rest since this particular story didn't have to do with heat stroke or any of that.

"I wasn't even supposed to be in the desert," he began. "I'd taken a job to catch a criminal who was holed up in a town nearby. He had magic so he fought, but when he decided that he couldn't win, he set up a distraction and ran off. Maybe he thought I wouldn't follow him into the desert, but I did. I caught up to him within half a day, restrained him, and dragged him back towards the town."

He frowned at the memory and finally looked up from his scrutiny of the ground. The others were watching him with curious expressions.

"So you dragged him back to town and then what?" Happy asked.

Gray's lips twitched upwards into a sardonic half-smile, and he chuckled dryly. "I said that I dragged him _towards_ town, not _to_ town. I didn't actually make it there before I ran into trouble. We'd stopped to take a break during high afternoon, because we really didn't have enough water to be running around at the hottest time of day.

"We were just resting there for a while, and then this guy suddenly starts making funny noises and twitching around. I look over and see that a rattler is crawling up him and getting agitated. We were sitting up against some rocks, so I assume that it had been lying around sunning itself and then had crawled right out onto him, and he didn't have enough good sense to just stay still and wait for it to leave."

"Wait, the snake was on the other guy?" Lucy interrupted.

Startled out of his reminiscence, Gray blinked at her uncomprehendingly. "Well, yes," he said, cocking his head as he tried to figure out what she was getting at.

"How did _you_ get bitten, then?"

He rolled his eyes. "If you'd just let me tell the story, then maybe I'd tell you. I'd slapped magic-restraining cuffs on him, so he didn't have much use of his arms or magic. If he'd just stayed still it might've been alright, but he kept wriggling around and riling the snake up, so I stepped in to grab it." He scowled faintly. "I accidentally grabbed it just a little too far behind the head, and it managed to whip around and bite me. Well, I hightailed it back to town, and luckily we were close enough that I got help before I actually died or anything."

He decided to gloss over the part where the venom had worked its way through most of his body with some not-so-pretty side effects. The others didn't need to know the extent of the damage. The pain and swelling had begun almost immediately, with the dizziness and nausea close on its heels. He also vaguely remembered something being wrong with his heartbeat, and breathing became difficult to the point where it felt like he was suffocating.

By the time he had limped back into town, towing the ungrateful criminal behind him, Gray had barely been able to move at all, and paralysis had already started setting in around the site of the bite. He'd been pretty out of it by that point, and if he had been even just a little farther away from town when he'd been bitten, he wouldn't have made it back. It had been a damn close call. The town's healers hadn't been sure that he would make it, but he had pulled through.

"How bad was it?" Erza asked, her voice sympathetic.

Gray shrugged and fixed his eyes on the rock again. "It took me a few weeks to recover, but ultimately I was fine." He frowned thoughtfully. "But this is a good reminder to be careful. There are all kinds of venomous snakes and scorpions and spiders out here, and it's easy to step on one by accident. Pay attention to where you're putting your feet."

There was a moment of silence, and Gray was content to leave it that way. If nothing else, at least he'd gotten trapped into telling this story instead of one about more normal desert ills. Those would worry his friends more.

"You're so stupid," Natsu said finally. "You should have left the snake alone."

"If it had bitten him, he could have died," Gray snapped back.

"Who cares?" Natsu asked, eyes flat and voice callous. "He was a criminal anyway."

Gray gaped at him, stunned. He wasn't sure what to make of the anger flickering in his friend's eyes or the sudden heartlessness. That didn't sound like Natsu.

"What difference does it make?" he demanded, disturbed by this sudden change. "He was still a person. If he died, that would have been on my head."

Natsu glowered at the ground and didn't reply immediately. Erza and Lucy looked just as shocked and horrified as Gray felt.

"What Natsu is trying to say," Happy said quietly, "is that you should have taken better care of yourself. Of course you would have tried to help that man—we all would have—but you should have taken care of yourself instead of just jumping in headfirst and getting yourself hurt."

Gray stared at the Exceed and then turned to study Natsu contemplatively. The dragon slayer's scowl had deepened, but he was very pointedly looking away and didn't contradict Happy's assessment.

Gray let his breath out in a sigh. Natsu really was bad with words. He could be stupid and careless and unobservant sometimes, but he would never be that callous towards a human life. The words were harsh, but ultimately what they boiled down to was that Natsu didn't like that Gray had gotten hurt and was worried because the ice mage had a bad habit of disregarding his own safety when he thought that someone else needed help.

"Thanks for the translation," Gray said dryly. Then he sighed and frowned at his feet. "Well, maybe you're right. The bastard somehow managed to work a hand free and tried to slit my throat on the way back. Real nice guy."

"He did _what_?" Lucy asked, aghast.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," he mused. "I mean, I was hunting him down to start with because he'd killed a couple people."

There was a brief pause as everyone digested that, and Gray immediately regretted his words when he saw some very interesting expressions flash across his friends' faces.

"Let me get this straight," Natsu said, his voice dangerously quiet. "You risked your life to save a murderer, who then turned around and tried to kill you while you were already dying from the venom you took to save him?"

Gray shifted uncomfortably, not sure he liked that blunt assessment of the situation. "Well, yes. But honestly, he wouldn't have even been able to get near me with that stupid knife if I hadn't already been half dead, and I still had enough presence of mind to stop him before he did any real damage. I can take care of myself just fine."

"Yeah, sounds like you took real good care of yourself," Natsu said grimly.

Gray looked away, his eyes dimming as he resumed his scrutiny of the ground. "He was still a person, even if he wasn't a particularly good one," he said quietly. "You can lecture me all you want, but you know that you would have done the same thing if you were in my place. Besides…" He sighed. "I was the one who tied him up, the one who picked the resting spot by those rocks, the one who wasn't paying enough attention and didn't even see the snake until it was almost too late. If he died, it would have been my fault. I don't care that he was a murderer. I don't want someone else–" Breaking off, he quickly revised his statement to exclude Ur. "I don't want someone's death hanging over my head."

Gray could see Natsu's point, even if he had done a really bad job of making it. Gray had ultimately put someone else's safety above his own, and a murderer's at that. That in itself wasn't all that unusual and any of the others would have done the same thing in his place, but he also had something of a reputation for being reckless with his life when other people were involved, and his friends didn't want to see him dead. If one of the others had told him this story, Gray might have had a similar reaction.

"You can't control everything," Lucy said. "It wouldn't have been your fault."

Gray smiled humorlessly. "If he had gotten bitten and died anyway, then maybe that would be true. But if I knew what was happening and I chose not to help…" He shook his head. "How could I choose not to help?"

"Look, just be more careful next time," Natsu said bluntly. That earlier strange anger and coldness seemed to have faded, leaving him more normal again. "We'd rather not see you die over something stupid."

Gray stared at him for a second. As far as Natsu went, that was about the closest he would come to saying that he cared about his rival. He must still be worried about this desert thing, despite Gray's best efforts.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful," Gray mumbled, returning his gaze to his feet. "You don't have to worry so much. It was years and years ago, anyway."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "'Years and years ago'? Just how young were you when you started chasing after murderers?"

"I'm a Fairy Tail kid," Gray said with a snort, choosing not to point out that he'd technically started at eight when he'd chased down a murderous demon. Better to focus on the actual question at hand. "I was taking dangerous jobs right from the beginning. I was…thirteen, maybe?" Then he smirked triumphantly as he found the right answer. "More like fourteen, actually. I expected it to only take a couple days, but then I had problems and it ran over my birthday. Not all that young, really."

"That's still really young," Lucy disagreed with a frown. "You were just a kid."

Gray shrugged. Lucy was great, but she had been something of a latecomer to the guild and didn't fully understand what it had been like for the Fairy Tail orphans who had been raised in it. Gray and the other kids had all been doing tough jobs from a young age, when most other children were still playing with dolls and toy cars. It was a different way of life.

Erza had picked up on a different part of his answer, and paused to give him a hard look. "Over your birthday? So, that one time when we were really annoyed with you because you never showed up to your party and didn't come back until a few weeks later…?"

Gray swallowed, getting the feeling that he had stuck his foot in his mouth again. Why did the heat have to screw up his verbal filter so much? Usually he wouldn't keep making all these stupid little slips.

"Well, yes…"

"You said that your job took longer than you expected it to," Happy said accusingly.

"Technically, that was true," Gray replied weakly.

"And you didn't think to tell us that you almost died and had just spent the last couple weeks recuperating?" Erza asked.

"Um, no?"

"God, you're such an idiot. Why wouldn't you tell us when something that major happened? You think we don't want to know when you're having trouble?"

Gray shrugged and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from responding and making things worse.

"So," Natsu started slowly, "this is that time when I was mad that you'd skipped out on us after we put all that effort into a party you never showed up for, so as soon as you got back I attacked you? That was one of the few fights you actually lost, and I was amazed at how easily you went down."

Gray scowled. That still rubbed him the wrong way. Most of his fights with Natsu ended in draws, and the few times he had actually lost chafed at him.

"In my defense, I'd just almost died and was still recovering from the venom," he grumbled. "Otherwise I wouldn't have lost."

"Exactly," Natsu snapped. Gray looked over curiously, noticing that the dragon slayer was wearing an impressive scowl of his own. "If you'd told me what had happened, I wouldn't have picked a fight with you like an insensitive jerk."

"How could you be insensitive if you didn't know any better?" Gray asked, frowning at him in confusion. And since when did Natsu care about being insensitive towards Gray, anyway?

"Because you almost died and were still recovering, and I went and beat you up!" Natsu burst out, throwing his hands into the air as he glared at the ice mage in exasperation.

Gray stared at him. He still wasn't sure what the big deal was. "So? You beat me up all the time."

"Yeah, but not when you're half dead! It's about _boundaries_."

Gray tried to figure out what the hell 'boundaries' had to do with anything, but became slightly suspicious when Happy shot a knowing look at Natsu. He was getting the feeling that those two were up to something again.

"We're your friends, Gray," Happy said. "Why didn't you just tell us what happened?"

"Why didn't I…?" Gray trailed off and dropped his head to stare at his feet again.

He knew why, but it was a stupid reason. Part of it was just that he was a private person and liked to keep things to himself, but mostly it was because of his stupid pride. For one, he hadn't wanted to get teased about getting himself bitten by a snake like a fool.

Even more than that, this job-gone-wrong had taken place after his first couple bad experiences with the sandpits of hell, and he had already started tallying up his desert failures. Even though this one hadn't been related to overheating or dehydration or anything, it had still technically been in a desert. He'd just tacked it onto his list of failures, which had only served to make him feel even more weak and incompetent. That kind of weakness wasn't something that he had wanted to share with the others, and he still didn't.

"Because I…" He sighed and shook his head tiredly. "Look, let's just agree to disagree. Every time I open my mouth, I just dig myself into a deeper hole, anyway."

"Yes, well–" Natsu started belligerently.

Gray hurried to cut him off. "Oh look, we finally reached the rock," he said, forcing cheerfulness into his voice.

The others were clearly unimpressed with his segue, but decided to let the subject drop since he obviously wasn't open to discussing it anymore. Instead, they paused in the shadow cast by the rocky formation, and Gray sighed in relief at the slightly lower temperature.

"Why don't we take a break now?" Erza suggested.

"I guess we wouldn't want the ice block to melt," Natsu said, throwing Gray a sharp smirk.

Gray scowled. "I'm not the only one here, you know," he grumbled, nodding towards Lucy, who looked hot and exhausted.

Natsu could run through hell itself and come out unscathed on the other side, still just as stupid and carefree as always, but the rest of the team was still human. Gray wasn't the only one getting uncomfortable in the desert heat. Lucy was clearly running out of energy, Erza must be boiling in her armor, and even Happy looked like he was starting to wilt. Only Natsu was still bouncing around like an energetic kid.

"We've been walking for hours," Erza said, trying to forestall any hostility between the two rivals. "We're all getting tired. Besides, the sun is at its highest point right now, so this is the perfect time to take a break. Plus we've just found some very convenient shade right here, and who knows when we'll run across such a perfect resting spot again?"

Natsu rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, but everyone else gratefully sank to the ground in the shade of the horse-donkey-cow rock. Gray settled himself with his back to the stony surface, relieved to be partially shielded from the full force of the sun's glare for a few minutes.

"Besides, it's lunchtime and I'm sure you're hungry," Lucy added to Natsu, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

Gray hid a smirk as Natsu immediately perked up and started rummaging through his bag in his search for food.

"Oh yeah, I'm starved!"

Gray wished he could share the sentiment. Aside from his lack of appetite, he could already feel the beginnings of an unpleasant nauseous sensation curling in his stomach, which made food seem thoroughly unappealing. He knew he should probably eat anyway so he nibbled on some bread halfheartedly, but he couldn't stomach a real meal right now. He figured that once the temperature dropped precipitously when the sun set, he'd be feeling more comfortable about eating. He'd eat tonight.

"Oh man, my arms are starting to burn," Lucy complained, temporarily forgetting about her meal as she noticed the beginnings of a red tinge creeping along her arms. She poked at it experimentally and winced.

"Yeah, that would be one of the pros to wearing long sleeves," Gray said. "You don't have to worry about sunburn. The village leader said he had someone pack some traditional robes in your bag. Why don't you try that out for a bit? If you don't like it then you can always take it off later, but it will help prevent sunburn and dehydration."

Lucy cleared her throat and suddenly became very interested in studying the ground. "Um, yeah, about that… I kind of took those out of my bag before we left," she mumbled.

Gray stared at her uncomprehendingly. "You did _what_?"

"Well, my pack was so heavy and I figured that I'd never wear those robes anyway, so I took them out to get rid of some of the extra weight," she said, rubbing at her face in embarrassment.

Gray pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh as he closed his eyes. He could feel a headache coming on. He knew that headaches were a side effect of high heat and dehydration and would intensify the longer he remained out in the sun, but for now he was perfectly content to blame its appearance on Lucy's stupidity.

"You…" He trailed off and sighed again. "I'm not even going to say anything. Look, why don't you ask Natsu for his, then? It's not like the pyromaniac needs them."

"No can do," Natsu said cheerfully. "I got rid of mine too." Gray stared at him, and the dragon slayer shrugged. "Like you said, I don't need them. I didn't see the point in bringing them along."

Letting out another breath, Gray looked to Erza, only to see that she had a sheepish expression plastered on her face.

"Not you too," he groaned.

"Sorry," she said apologetically. "I had no intention of wearing that."

Gray was surrounded by fools. He could swear his headache was getting worse. Pulling his pack open again, he dug through it and pulled out a spare shirt. He always made sure to bring along some extras in case his stripping habit reasserted itself. It was a bad idea to find oneself shirtless in the middle of the desert with no backup clothing.

He tossed the shirt to Lucy.

"Here, try this," he said tiredly. "It'll be too big for you, but it will cover your arms, at least." Seeing her hesitance, he pressed on. "If you don't like it, then you can take it off later. Honestly, it won't kill you to try it out for an hour or two. You might be surprised."

With some reluctance, Lucy pulled the shirt over her head and peered down at herself. It was clearly too big and she had to roll up the sleeves and tug at all the extra fabric, but it was better than nothing.

"Huh," she said in surprise. "It's actually not that hot."

"I told you, it's really lightweight material." Gray rolled his eyes. "You really think I'd wear long sleeves in a desert if it made me really hot?"

"Well, maybe I'll try it for a little while," Lucy conceded. "I don't want to burn, and it actually feels okay. Well…" She paused and pulled a face. "Actually, it feels kind of weird to be wearing your clothes."

"It's clean," Gray grumbled, rolling his eyes again.

She flushed a little. "I didn't mean…" She shook her head. "It's not that. It's just…it feels weird."

"She lllllikes him!" Happy purred, his eyes glinting with mischief.

Lucy's face, already somewhat flushed from the heat, turned tomato red. "I don't!" she protested. "Shut up, you stupid cat!"

Gray laughed softly and shook his head at the Exceed's antics. "I already made a deal with her that I wasn't going to tease her about crap like that as long as she left me alone."

The little cat smirked wickedly. " _You_ made a deal with her. _I_ didn't. I can still tease her about whatever I want."

Gray snorted, but now that he was paying attention to Lucy, he remembered that there was something else he had been meaning to do.

"Hey Luce, hand me your pack, will you?"

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

Gray fixed her with an irritated look and she relented, heaving her pack over to him with a grunt. He opened it and tugged his own pack open as well so that he could begin rearranging things, transferring some of the food and water from Lucy's bag over to his.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked as she watched the exchange.

"Your pack is too heavy for you," he replied absently, still working on finding creative ways to jam extra supplies into his already-crowded bag. "Watching you stumble around with it is getting painful. You'll be less tired and better able to handle the heat if it's lighter."

"Oh," she said in surprise, flushing again. "You don't have to…"

He ignored her. He wasn't particularly looking forward to making his bag even heavier, but better him than Lucy. Besides, he was physically stronger and could handle it better.

"Why don't you let me do that instead?" Natsu asked.

Gray bit back a snippy retort that he was just as strong as Natsu and could handle himself perfectly fine, but his irritation mostly drained away after a moment. Something about the way Natsu was looking at him made him think that the dragon slayer was actually just trying to be nice for once. Maybe he was still worried that Gray would pass out or die or something.

"Nah, you're already carrying extra supplies for Happy," Gray said instead. "I'm fine."

"Well, I can take some of it," Erza broke in.

Gray gave her a suspicious look, trying to determine if she was just trying to help Lucy out or if she also didn't think he could handle it, but then shrugged and pushed Lucy's bag over to her.

"Suit yourself," he said, making no move to transfer any of the supplies he'd taken to Erza.

She could help out if she wanted—she was also a lot stronger than Lucy, physically speaking, so she'd be better suited for this than the blonde—but Gray was going to do his part too. Erza watched him for a moment before shrugging to herself and taking a little of the leftover supplies.

Gray turned back to Lucy. "You probably won't need all those extra supplies since we shouldn't be out here too long, but just tell one of us if you start running out."

Lucy nodded, not quite meeting his gaze. "Yeah…Thanks."

"No problem."

When the group called off their break a few minutes later and stood up to head out again, Gray wasn't thrilled. Still, seeing Lucy with long sleeves and a lighter pack was satisfying. She was better prepared for the desert now, at least. Next he would work on Erza and try to get her out of that infernal armor, although that would be a lot more difficult.

When they got far enough away that Gray could turn around and see the rock they'd been sitting by at more of a distance, he paused and looked at Natsu sidelong.

"Hey, from this side it kind of looks like a dragon," he commented.

Natsu immediately spun around and began studying the rock, childish excitement lighting up his face. "A dragon? Where? I don't see it."

"Tilt your head a little," Gray said. "A little more." Natsu turned his head further, a faint frown creasing his face as he squinted at the rock determinedly. "More." Natsu obliged, although Gray wasn't sure how his neck could possibly turn that far. "Just a little more."

Natsu had ended up contorting his entire body into an uncomfortable-looking position as he hunched his shoulders and turned his head so far that Gray almost expected to hear his neck snap.

"I don't see it," Natsu said again, frustration coloring his voice. "And if I turn any farther, my head will pop off."

With a grunt of disgust and irritation, he straightened back up and started trying to work the crick out of his neck. Gray couldn't contain himself any longer and burst out laughing. Natsu turned to look at him curiously, but then understanding flashed in his eyes and he gave Gray a hard look.

"You just made that up, didn't you?" he asked accusingly.

"Of course I did," Gray replied, still snickering.

The rock still looked like nothing other than a giant rock to him, but he'd play along with the game if it meant that he could trick Natsu into looking like a fool.

"Why, you–!"

Erza hurried to interrupt him, eager to forestall the brewing conflict. "Okay, now that we found the horse-shaped rock, we're looking for a big oblong rock that looks like this." She turned the map to show the others, temporarily distracting Natsu. "It looks like it's made out of some kind of dark gray or black stone, so we should spot it easily since most of the other rocks around here are more reddish."

Gray nodded his agreement, and everyone agreed to keep an eye out for the rock in question. Even though they were all looking, they trudged along for hours without seeing anything even remotely resembling a large, black rock formation. Gray got quieter and quieter the longer they walked, a niggling doubt starting to coil in the back of his mind. He pushed it aside and focused on walking.

It was only when the sun began to set and the desert sky was shot through with hues of red and pink that Erza called a halt. Gray had been pretty distracted these past few hours, more focused on his discomfort than on the others, but looking at their faces now, he could tell that he wasn't the only one having doubts. Everyone wore expressions with varying degrees of worry and unease. Even Natsu was starting to look a little concerned.

"We should have seen this rock within a couple hours of passing that last one," Erza said, looking down at the map. "And it's so dark-colored that it should stick out like a sore thumb."

For a moment, no one spoke.

Then Natsu turned to the blue feline hovering by his side. "Happy," he said quietly, "why don't you fly up and take a look around? See if you can spot this rock."

"Aye sir." Even the Exceed sounded subdued.

Happy flew up, shooting high into the air. The others remained silent as the little cat took a look around. It seemed like ages before he drifted back down again, and there was a defeated expression on his face as he shook his head slowly.

"Nothing."

Erza let out her breath in a heavy sigh, and they all stared out at the endless sands surrounding them.

"You know," Gray said finally, "that rock never really looked like a horse to me."

Everyone looked over at him, but no one voiced what they were all thinking.

They were lost.

* * *

 **Note: Surprise! Jk, I'm sure it's not surprising that they're lost. Back when I first started writing this story, I showed my sister the first couple chapters. She got to the part at the beginning of chapter 2 where Gray says "and Erza wasn't going to let them get lost", looked at me, and said "they're going to get lost, aren't they?" Nice catch, sis lol**

 **emmahoshi: Ha ha, past-me, current-me, and future-me tend to alternate between who seems smart and who's stupid as hell XD Well...a lot of FT members can be a little careless sometimes. They're not exactly known for being big planners lol And Natsu won't eat his own fire, so I'm kinda assuming that it would be weird to eat Gray's ice XD Ha, yeah, the heat might be killing Gray's verbal filter, but he still has enough presence of mind to throw off nosy teammates with less relevant stories :3 But they'll pry it out of him. I actually have a lot of fun with writing charries digging themselves deeper and deeper holes every time they open their mouths lol Yep, you've pretty much nailed the dynamic between Gray and the team there. I wouldn't tell people about that stuff either, for many of the same reasons. Yes, I meant the snake story, and my sense of direction is also awful :)**


	7. Natsu suspects Gray is hiding things

**.**

 **Chapter 7**

 _(In which Natsu suspects that Gray is hiding things and the team formulates a plan.)_

* * *

It might sort of, kind of, maybe be Natsu's fault that they were lost. Just a little. After all, he was the one who had insisted they take this job in the middle of the desert, and he was technically the one who had convinced everyone else that that one rock had been the one they were looking for. He wasn't the kind of person who'd blame himself for everything and beat himself up over it, but he did feel a little bad. He'd made a mistake, and although it wasn't one that he'd torture himself over, it was one that would have consequences.

He was kind of expecting someone—Gray, at the very least—to make a snippy comment or chew him out, but it seemed like everyone was too exhausted from a long day of hiking in the heat to bother throwing blame right now.

"Well, I guess we might as well set up camp for the night," Erza said, sighing as she looked around at the featureless desert. "It'll be getting dark soon, and there's no point wandering around blindly."

"Yeah," Lucy said unenthusiastically. "Should we just stop here or find a better place?"

" _Is_ there a better place?" Happy asked skeptically.

"I didn't see any when we were walking, but if we go on a little farther we might find something," Erza said with a shrug, looking doubtful of the usefulness of her own suggestion.

Gray had been pretty quiet for most of the day and hadn't actually said anything at all since the team had finally come out and admitted that they were lost, but now he shrugged and spoke up.

"Unlikely," he said, staring vacantly at the ground as if only half-aware of the others' presence. "This desert is mostly flat, and most of it looks exactly like this. There are some rocks and things, but Happy would have spotted any in the area when he flew up earlier. As it is, it doesn't seem to matter much. If there's a trick to picking an ideal camping spot out here where everything looks the same, I sure haven't found it yet."

No one had any better ideas, so they began digging sleeping bags and blankets out of their packs to spread out on the sandy ground. As twilight slipped into night, Natsu started up a fire to ward off the darkness and give them some warmth as the temperature began to plummet. There weren't any plants or brush nearby, so he wasn't able to build a proper fire and had to maintain it with his magic the whole time.

The team found some food in their bags to gnaw on for dinner and settled around the fire, although Natsu noticed Gray sat a little farther away than the others. Apparently he preferred the chill of the night air to more heat.

"Sorry," Natsu mumbled into the silence as he frowned at the food in his hands.

There was a brief pause as everyone was dragged out of their thoughts and tried to puzzle out his statement.

"For what?" Lucy asked.

"For getting us lost."

"Don't be stupid," Gray grumbled.

Natsu looked over at him in surprise. His first thought was that maybe Gray was just sticking to this no-complaining thing way too closely, but the ice mage didn't look angry. He had been nibbling halfheartedly at his meal with small, precise bites, but now he had abandoned the venture and was frowning over at Natsu. In the dull glow of the firelight it was difficult to pin down his exact expression, but he certainly seemed far less bitter and annoyed than Natsu had expected him to be.

"It's not like you're the only one at fault here," Erza agreed, scowling as she gazed into the dancing flames. "I was navigating and I clearly didn't do a good job."

"And we really should have taken a closer look at that rock when we realized that all of us thought it looked like something different," Lucy added.

"Maybe it would have helped if I had flown up more often to look for landmarks and get our bearings," Happy said mournfully.

Gray let out a harsh breath from where he was sitting on the outskirts of the group. "I wasn't any help because I wasn't paying much attention and left the navigation to you guys. And I didn't think that rock looked like anything at all, but I never spoke up and said anything." He sighed and rubbed at his face. "But what does it really matter? It isn't anyone's fault. These things happen."

The team fell into silence once more, and Natsu studied Gray, wondering what was going on in his friend's head. Gray had been fairly quiet for most of the day, but that was pretty normal. Natsu had pulled him out on jobs in hot places before, so he knew a few things about how the ice mage handled the heat. Gray had two basic states when he had been out in the heat for too long: withdrawn and quiet, or irritable and hostile. Usually he switched in between the two, which was pretty much what had happened today. He had sometimes been short-tempered or distracted while talking to them, but for the rest of the time he had stayed quiet and preoccupied with his own discomfort.

So it wasn't all that unusual that he had been quiet since the revelation that they were lost, but maybe he was being a little _too_ quiet. Natsu wondered if he was more worried about this than he was letting on. He obviously wasn't happy with how things were going, but instead of getting angry at Natsu or becoming more irritable, he had become more withdrawn. Natsu wasn't sure if that was really a good thing.

"Gray's right," Erza said finally. "No one's really at fault here. It is what it is, and there's no point obsessing over it. Anyway, we have more important things to discuss, such as what we're going to do tomorrow. We need to figure out where to go from here."

There were a few nods as everyone dredged up a little determination to make a plan. Well, everyone but Gray. Natsu didn't know what was bothering him so much, but he was obviously lost in his own thoughts again, his eyes glassy and unfocused as he stared sightlessly at the fire and occasionally took an unenthusiastic bite of his food. Natsu was of the opinion that he should join the land of the living already.

"Well, maybe our resident desert survival expert will have some advice to share with us," the dragon slayer said. "What do you say, Gray?"

Gray looked up at the sound of his name and blinked at Natsu in bewilderment. Natsu could practically see him searching his memory for what he had missed, but apparently he had heard the question even if he hadn't been paying much attention to it. His lips curved into a thin smile.

"Really, I'm probably not the best person to give advice about this," he said, sardonic amusement glinting in his eyes.

Natsu's eyes narrowed as he studied his friend. He would have thought that Gray would jump at the chance to show off his apparently extensive knowledge of the desert.

"Well, you're the best resource we've got right now," Natsu said dryly. "Enlighten us."

"You _have_ seemed pretty knowledgeable about deserts," Erza mused. "More than I would expect you to be, given your aversion to them. Now would be a great time to put all that knowledge to use."

Gray rolled his eyes and poked at his food moodily. "What do you really want me to say?" he grumbled, some of his earlier irritability resurfacing.

"Well, if you were lost in the middle of a desert, what would you do?" Lucy asked.

"Wander around until either I found my way out or died of dehydration and heat exhaustion," he said flatly, his annoyance disappearing as quickly as it had come. He pursed his lips and got another one of those glazed-over looks that suggested he was only half paying attention to what he was saying.

"That sounds like a terrible plan," Happy said.

"It is," Gray agreed absently. "Why do you think I said I wasn't the best person to ask about this? There's not a whole lot else you can do in terms of finding where you need to go. That part is hit-or-miss, although sometimes there are tricks you can use. Still, the part you can really control is how you survive during the time when you're lost."

Natsu studied him suspiciously. Something about his answer seemed a little off, but the dragon slayer couldn't quite put his finger on it, and Gray had shifted so that the fire was throwing shadows onto his face. Natsu wished he could see his friend's expression, although he suspected that it would just be that distracted look again.

Or maybe Natsu was just being paranoid. He considered that possibility for a full second before noticing that Erza was also frowning at Gray and wearing a half-puzzled, half-calculating expression. If she also thought that something might be up with Gray, then Natsu was probably right and something was up with Gray.

Gray seemed oblivious to his friends' sudden interest, and he wasn't the only one. Apparently Lucy and Happy hadn't noticed anything suspicious either.

"Okay, so how would you survive during the time you were lost?" Lucy pressed.

Gray sighed and leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees. The firelight illuminated his face as he dropped his chin onto his fists, revealing that he was suddenly wearing something of a cold, calculating expression. Natsu could immediately tell that he had gone into tactician mode, considering all possibilities from a practical standpoint to formulate a feasible plan of action. Natsu and the others didn't get to see this side of him very often, either because he usually stuck with simpler plans that had less thinking involved or because he made his plans in his head without sharing his thought process.

"Water is the most important resource in the desert, and since we don't know how long it will be until we find this dark guild, we'll need to start rationing," Gray said with clinical detachment as he stared into the fire. "But it's not quite that easy, because dehydration kills out here, so we'll need to balance our water consumption accordingly. We need to try to conserve as much water as possible, but at the same time we still need to drink enough or we'll start dropping like flies.

"Food should be rationed as well, but that's not quite as important." He shrugged dismissively. "You can survive without food for a while if you need to, although it would be better to make our supply last as long as possible to help us keep our strength up with all the walking we'll be doing. Judging by how much water and food were in my pack when we started out this morning, and assuming that the quantities are equal in all of our bags, I'd say we have enough water for about four or five days. There's not quite as much food and it might run out sooner, but it's the amount of water that sets the timer.

"The heat will start sapping our strength eventually. On the bright side, we're mages and we're a lot tougher than most people, so you–" He broke off and frowned. "So _we_ can survive in adverse conditions longer than the average person, and it will be longer before we start feeling the really nasty side effects. All the same, rest breaks after every few hours of walking, especially at high noon, will be essential to keep us functioning longer, and I'll be able to provide ice to help us cool off.

"This desert is also particularly flat and featureless, which makes it difficult to find your bearings. I suggest that we pick a direction and try to walk in a straight line until we either run out of water or hit an edge of the desert. I don't know exactly where we are right now, but this desert is narrower going north to south than it is in the other direction, and we entered from a point on the south side. If we end up picking a northwards direction, we might be able to cross the area in two or three days and come out on the other side. If we pick something to the east or west, we're in it for the long haul. I think the leader of the village mentioned that the city was off to the west, so if we go west, we may or may not run into it. If we have Happy scout by air then he'll be able to see for miles since the terrain is so flat, and he can keep an eye out for any of the landmarks on the map or even the city itself."

Gray finally pulled his gaze away from the fire and looked up at the ring of stunned faces. "It's possible that we aren't as off course as I suspect we are, so we might find the trail and city within a day or two, no harm done. If not, I estimate that we can survive for four or five days, maybe a little longer if we're lucky." His lips tightened and he turned his gaze back to the ground. "That's my assessment of the situation. Take it or leave it."

There were several moments of stunned silence as everyone stared at him. For one, it was always weird to hear him come up with these super methodical and well thought out plans since he usually didn't bother. It was also just staggering to hear exactly how much he knew about desert survival, even if he had already admitted that he knew a great deal about deserts earlier. Not only that, but he must have studied up on this particular desert before they came, because he seemed to know a lot about it. It was strange as hell, but also kind of amazing.

"Wow," Lucy said finally.

Well, that was one way to sum it up. Natsu waited to see if she would say something else, but apparently that was all she could muster up right now. Erza stepped in instead.

"Yeah…" She shook her head to gather her thoughts and focus back on the planning again. "It's good advice. We'll ration our supplies until we figure out how long we'll be stuck here. As for which way we should go…" She glanced around helplessly. "It really is all guesswork, isn't it? I don't know which way north or west is. I guess we could see where the sun rises tomorrow and that will tell us where east is, but with how featureless this place is, it will be easy to get off course once we start walking. We'd only be able to check ourselves at morning or night."

"Yeah, that'll be a problem," Natsu grumbled. For all he knew, they could be walking in circles.

"Well, if we–" Lucy broke off and her face lit up. "I have Pyxis!"

"You have a what?" Natsu asked in confusion.

"Oh, isn't that that penguin-y spirit?" Happy asked, his eyes brightening. "The one with the compass?"

Come to think of it, Natsu seemed to vaguely recall something about that. It wasn't a spirit Lucy used often and he didn't know much about it, but he did remember something about a compass.

"Yeah," Lucy agreed with a triumphant smile. "All we have to do is ask it a direction and it will point us to it."

"That's a great idea," Erza said. "Now we just need to pick a direction. If we go north then Gray thinks we'll hit the edge of the desert within a couple days, but then we'd need to find our way back to the village, get more supplies, and start all over again. Or we can go west and hope that we run across the city. The problem with that is that we don't know how off course we are, so we could overshoot it and miss it entirely if we aren't careful, and then we would still be lost. Want to take a vote?"

"West," Natsu said immediately. "North is like giving up. We said we'd take out this dark guild and rescue the kidnapped villagers, and that's what I want to do. I don't want to have to restart everything."

Happy nodded loyally. "West."

Lucy was a little more hesitant, torn between the safer and riskier routes, but then she sighed. "We're already here. We might as well go west."

"I agree," Erza added. "Hopefully we'll run across something from the map on the way and then we can reorient ourselves to the city."

The majority of votes were cast and it looked like they were going west, but there was still someone else who needed to weigh in.

"Gray?" Erza asked, studying the ice mage carefully in the light of the flames.

Gray was staring absently into the fire again, his face unreadable, and didn't answer immediately. Natsu was curious to hear what he had to say. It was true that the majority had already said west, but it would be worthwhile to hear Gray's opinion as well. After all, he had the best idea of what they could and couldn't handle in the desert. Besides that, he might be the weakest link in this chain right now, so if he wasn't confident in his ability to survive the heat…

After a moment, Gray finally stirred and looked over at them, his expression still impossible to decipher. "West it is," he said quietly.

Everyone seemed to brighten up a little now that they had some kind of plan to work with. Well, Natsu would be happier if it wasn't getting so damn cold. It was unfair that a place so hot in the daytime could get so cold at night. He shivered against the chill of the air and huddled closer to his fire. As the temperature had continued to fall over the past hour or so, Happy and the girls had been gradually edging closer as well, although Gray seemed content to stay back.

Lucy pulled her blanket more tightly around herself and then worked her hands out of the woolen cocoon so that she could hold them out to the fire.

"It's so cold," she complained. "I can't believe it gets this cold when it was so hot earlier."

"Deserts tend to get cold at night," Gray said unsympathetically. "The temperature here rarely gets above fifty degrees at night, and it can get a good deal colder than that."

Lucy sighed. "I guess, but–"

She broke off as an eerie wail rang out from somewhere in the darkness and echoed across the desert. Natsu jumped in surprise, and he wasn't the only one who was startled. It sounded almost like a wolf, but different—higher-pitched and interspersed with yelps and something like barking. More howls joined the first, and the Fairy Tail mages stared out into the night with wide, wary eyes.

"Are those wolves?" Lucy asked, her voice rising sharply in pitch. "There are wolves in deserts, right? Will they attack us?"

"I don't know," Erza replied tightly. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the darkness, searching for the source of the sound. "It doesn't exactly sound like a wolf, but I don't know what else it might be."

"Some deserts have wolves," Gray said, neither startled nor frightened by the sudden cacophony. In fact, he appeared perfectly unconcerned as he stared at the ground with empty eyes. "But this one doesn't have any."

Once again, Natsu wondered why Gray seemed to know so much about this particular desert.

"What's making the noises, then?" Happy asked. His fur fluffed out as he edged closer to Natsu for protection.

"Coyotes."

"How can you tell?" Lucy asked curiously. Then her earlier concern reasserted itself and she remembered the really important question. "How dangerous are they?"

"I can tell because I know that there are coyotes out here and because I know what they sound like," Gray said as he played with the edge of his sleeve absentmindedly. "They probably won't bother us. Coyotes rarely attack humans, and their attacks are seldom fatal to us anyway. If they do actually decide to come investigate, then standing your ground is usually enough to make them back off, and our magic will scare them off easily. They see us as a potential threat, so they'll stay away. Don't worry so much. Last time was just a fluke, not anything to actually worry about."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Happy asked.

Gray looked up and blinked at the Exceed in confusion as he tried to figure out what he had said to provoke such a question. "What?"

"You said something about last time being a fluke. What last time?"

"Did I?" His surprise melted into a more guarded expression. "Nothing, really."

Natsu leaned forward and studied Gray with narrowed eyes as he finally started putting all the pieces together. He'd thought it was weird that Gray seemed to know so much about this particular desert. Originally he'd thought that maybe his friend had done some research ahead of time so that he knew what he was getting into, but a new suspicion was forming in Natsu's mind. The things Gray knew…some of them seemed too personal.

"You've already been here before, haven't you?" Natsu asked suspiciously.

When Gray had told that story about the snake, Natsu had assumed that was what he had meant when he'd mentioned being in a desert before. He now had the feeling that his friend might have been deliberately misleading him or, at the very least, omitting something particularly important.

Gray looked over at him sharply and scowled, immediately getting defensive.

"You have?" Lucy asked in surprise. "Actually…that kind of makes sense. You do seem to know a lot of stuff."

Gray's grimace deepened. "Once," he said curtly.

Erza brightened. "Maybe you can help out with the navigation, then. You could use your experience to get us where we need to go."

"I wouldn't count on it," he grumbled. "I won't be any help."

"Why not?"

Gray laughed quietly, although it was a darkly amused sound edged in bitterness. "Because I was lost."

"The reason you were so upset that I picked this job wasn't just because it was in a desert, was it?" Natsu asked slowly. "It was because the job was in _this_ desert, because you were here before and you got lost and almost died."

Gray looked away and didn't respond, confirming Natsu's suspicions. The dragon slayer let out a breath and leaned back again. Well hell. Happy hadn't known just how right he had been when he'd said that Natsu was overstepping the boundaries with this job. No wonder Gray had gotten so withdrawn and worried after realizing that they were lost. He had already been lost here once and likely suffered a lot for it—of course he would be worried that history would repeat itself.

"Why didn't you just _tell_ me?" Natsu demanded.

"Because it didn't matter," Gray snapped. "It's not important."

"Because it didn't _matter_? Shit. You should have said something."

Gray curled into himself and stayed silent, apparently unwilling to pursue the subject any further. The others weren't going to let him get away with it that easily.

"What happened?" Erza asked, her sharp gaze fixed on his shadowed form.

"I got lost."

"Yeah, you already said that," Lucy said dryly. "But tell us everything that happened."

"You'd better start talking," Erza added, pursing her lips.

Ooh, Erza wasn't happy that Gray had been hiding things. In his place, Natsu would be jumping to tell her everything he knew, because an unhappy Erza was a scary Erza. But apparently Gray lacked a sense of self-preservation.

"Leave it alone," he growled, turning away from them so that they couldn't see his face.

Natsu was dying to grab Gray and shake him until he cracked and told them everything, but he knew his friend well enough to realize that this wouldn't work here, not when he was already so defensive and clammed up. Gray might not want to tell them the story, but if Natsu took a different tack then maybe he could still pry a little information out of him.

"Well, why don't you tell us about some of the symptoms of heat exhaustion, then?" Natsu asked conversationally. "If we're stuck out here, we should know what to expect."

If nothing else, Gray's answer could give them clues about what he had experienced on his last desert job and what he was risking by being lost out here again now. If Natsu wouldn't get to hear the story, he at least wanted to have some idea of how much trouble Gray had had.

Gray looked back at the group for the sole purpose of glowering at Natsu.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," he groused. Natsu shrugged unapologetically and Gray sighed, some of his irritation fading into weariness. "But you really should know some of the warning signs so that you know what to look out for."

He closed his eyes and rubbed at his face. "At first the heat will just make you uncomfortable, but as it wears on you and you get dehydrated, you might start to notice some signs. It might start with dizziness and nausea. Maybe you'll pass out a few times or start vomiting. Your body temperature will continue to rise, your skin will flush and ache, your muscles will weaken and cramp. Eventually the heat will start frying your brain, leaving you disoriented and confused. As your mental functioning deteriorates, you'll start making bad decisions that you'd never make if you were thinking clearly. Those decisions could kill you. If you go without help for long enough, you might eventually fall unconscious or even go into seizures. If you still stay out in the heat, you might end up doing severe damage to your brain and internal organs. And eventually, you'll die."

Gray fell silent and stared into the fire moodily, and everyone else was too busy watching him with varying degrees of horror and unease to say anything either. Natsu felt an almost nauseous feeling settle in his stomach as he considered what Gray was really saying. He didn't know if his friend had experienced _all_ of these things—aside from the dying bit, of course—but he had obviously gone through a lot of it, and it sounded horrible. Natsu hadn't suspected that the heat might be able to do that much damage to him. He knew that it would make Gray uncomfortable, but this was something else.

"That sounds terrible," Lucy whispered finally.

"It is," Gray said shortly. "So if you start experiencing any of those symptoms, let us know right away so that we can take a break and get some water in you. Better to catch it early before things spiral out of control."

"Maybe we should just go north instead," Erza said, studying him with new concern. "We don't want you to have to deal with that."

Gray uncrossed his legs so that he could draw his knees to his chest and wrap his arms around them as he dropped his chin onto his knees. Sighing wearily, he shook his head.

"No, I already said that it didn't matter. You honestly don't have to worry so much. Conditions were different last time, and it's not as dangerous for me now."

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," Erza disagreed. "I'm not willing to risk your health for this."

Gray let out his breath in another sigh. "Look, if it'll stop you from worrying… I took a job here a couple years ago, but I was in a different part of the desert because I was helping a tribe on the east end. I got lost and I don't know exactly how long I was stuck out here since the heat eventually fried my brain, but it was days. I ran out of water and started making bad decisions because I wasn't thinking clearly, which made things worse.

"The difference between then and now is that now I have a lot more experience and useful knowledge, and won't make the same mistakes again. Also, I'm not alone this time. This stuff is more dangerous when you're on your own, because you don't have anyone to catch you when you're making mistakes. Honestly, I'm not that weak. I'll be fine."

Natsu considered that, trying to decide whether or not that was reassuring enough to allay his concerns. Maybe it helped a little, but was it enough to justify a decision not to abort the mission? He still had the feeling that Gray was glossing over all the less savory details, and he knew his friend well enough to realize that all the worst parts of the story would likely stay hidden unless they were forced out of him.

"Well, we _would_ be here to make sure that nothing bad happened…" Lucy said slowly.

Gray nodded. "We'll all be able to keep an eye on each other. And like I said, we're tougher than most people, so you should be fine for longer. Besides, these concerns could be completely unfounded. It's just as likely that we're not too far off track and will find the city quickly. This is all worst case scenario stuff, because it's best to be prepared for the worst."

"I suppose so…" Erza's brow wrinkled slightly as she tried to decide what to do.

"Where did the coyotes come in?" Happy asked, apparently having no qualms about derailing the conversation's current track.

Gray stared at him silently for a few seconds, debating whether or not to answer the question. Natsu half expected him to deflect it with another terse and unhelpful reply, but apparently he decided that he might as well finish the story now that he'd started it. Or maybe he realized that refusing to answer questions now would only make the others more suspicious and concerned.

"Well, some coyotes actually attacked me a few days in," he said finally. "Normally they would have left me alone, but I was pretty out of it at that point and I probably looked more like prey than predator. Usually just standing your ground and looking like a threat will ward them off, but I wasn't really capable of doing that then. I'm still surprised they tried it, but I guess they were particularly opportunistic. Luckily I wasn't so far gone that I didn't think to use my magic, so I scared them off quickly and only had minor injuries. It was probably a good thing, actually, because it helped partially snap me out of my daze and start looking for a way out again instead of giving up."

"Wow," Happy said. "It seems like animals hate you."

That managed to pull an almost amused smile out of Gray. "Cats too?"

"Don't worry," Happy reassured him. "I'm not really a cat."

Gray huffed out a laugh, before being interrupted by Lucy.

"How _did_ you get out?" the blonde asked.

"Sheer dumb luck." Gray smiled thinly. "I eventually stumbled across a group of tribesmen who were returning to their village after a trading expedition. They patched me up, gave me some water, and pointed me to the nearest town. Which wasn't far, actually. Turns out that I was mere minutes away." He scowled. "I have a feeling that I was walking parallel to the edge of the desert most of the time, just missing it. It's annoying to know that I might have died when I was so damn close."

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced around at his friends to gauge their expressions, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, story time is over. We should really get some sleep so that we can get up early tomorrow and start walking before the extra-hot afternoon temperatures hit."

There were a few reluctant nods.

"If you even start feeling the _slightest_ bit like the heat is getting to you…" Erza gave him a hard look.

"Of course, although I'm sure you'll be able to tell. In any case, I'm sure we're worrying over nothing."

Erza stared at him a moment longer as she waged an internal debate, but then she nodded. "Well, Gray is right that we'll need to get up early, so we should go to bed."

"I won't be able to keep the fire going while we're asleep," Natsu warned them absently, still distracted by this newest revelation.

Apparently picking up something in his tone of voice, Gray looked over and eyed him for a few seconds before sighing. "It's fine, flame brain."

Natsu fixed him with a flat stare. "Next time, you tell me."

"Sure," Gray agreed after a split second of hesitation.

Natsu frowned, trying to decide if he should trust him or not, but Gray just shrugged and curled up on his bedroll. The others also crawled into their sleeping bags and pulled their blankets around themselves as they settled down to sleep around the glow of the dying fire.

"It's so cold," Lucy muttered again. "Hey, Happy, get over here and keep me warm."

That immediately distracted Natsu, who scowled over at her. "Oh no, Happy is with me and–" He broke off as the Exceed left his side and scurried across the makeshift camp to curl up with Lucy instead. "Hey!"

"Sorry," Happy said, snickering. "I'd rather sleep with Lucy."

Natsu blinked at him uncomprehendingly, trying to come to terms with the fact that Happy had just abandoned him.

"Traitor," he grumbled. "Now _I'm_ going to be cold."

He missed the heat of the desert day, which was much preferable to him than this, even if the others might not agree. The cold was already getting to him, making him shiver and huddle into his coarse blanket. When he let his fire go out in a minute, it would just get even colder.

Then something came flying through the air and whacked him hard in the face. Sputtering, Natsu pulled it off of himself and stared at the blanket in consternation. He looked up to see Gray watching him with an amused expression.

"There. Keep it or trade it for Happy."

Natsu stared at him. "But you–"

"I like the cold," Gray interrupted, flipping around so that he wasn't facing Natsu anymore.

"Hey, Natsu, want to trade?" Lucy asked.

"Hey!" Happy protested.

Natsu was torn between rolling his eyes and laughing. He settled for tucking the extra blanket around himself.

"Oh no, it's too late for that," he said. He could hold a grudge if he wanted to.

"Good grief," Erza snapped. "Cease the childish arguing at once. Natsu, put the fire out. Everyone else, _go to sleep_."

This time Natsu did snicker, but he also quickly obeyed Erza's instructions and doused his flames, pitching them all into darkness. After all, he didn't want to cross Erza. On that note, he obeyed her and went to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Natsu was awoken by an unpleasant sensation of freezing wetness dripping down his back. He bolted upright with a yelp, pawing at the back of his shirt to get rid of whatever was there. Still half asleep, he twisted around and blinked uncomprehendingly at the small chunk of ice that fell out of his shirt and dropped to the ground, where it quickly melted into the sand.

The sound of laughter distracted him from his bleary scrutiny, and he spun back around to glare at his friends. Everyone else was already up, each wearing an amused expression. Lucy and Happy were snickering, Erza had a secretive half-smile on her face, and Gray was watching Natsu with glittering eyes and a smug grin.

"You…" Natsu growled, narrowing his eyes at Gray. "What the hell was that for?"

"Good morning, ash for brains," Gray said cheerfully, his smirk widening.

Natsu was surprised that he seemed to be in a fairly good mood this morning. He wondered how long it would last. The sun was just starting to rise, leaving the desert bathed in gray predawn light. The temperature was warm and quickly rising, and Natsu suspected it would get hot pretty soon. He was torn between being smug that Gray would get his comeuppance for this cheap trick and concerned that the heat would start wearing everyone down.

He decided not to worry about the future. Right now he could just be plain annoyed.

"You know what? You can just–"

" _Ahem_ ," Erza interrupted, shooting him a pointed glare. Natsu reluctantly subsided, contenting himself with scowling at Gray, who somehow managed to look even more pleased with himself. "Hurry and pack up, Natsu. We're just going to eat some breakfast and then get walking."

Natsu obeyed, grumbling to himself as he started jamming his bedroll into his pack. He hesitated as he studied the extra blanket. His first thought was to just keep it since Gray was being annoying, but at the same time it had been a nice gesture on his friend's part and it would feel wrong to ignore that.

He turned back to Gray and raised a questioning eyebrow as he held up the blanket. "Do you–?"

"Nah." Gray just shrugged as he turned away and began rummaging through his bag for food. "Keep it. I don't need it."

Natsu shrugged and squished it into his pack. Then he groaned as he realized that he had just stuffed all his bedding and blankets on top of his food and water and could no longer reach them. His grumbling intensifying, he pulled everything back out so that he could get some food and water before shoving it all back in. Gray chuckled quietly but didn't comment.

Conversation was kept light throughout breakfast. Apparently everyone figured that they had talked enough about worst case scenarios last night, and no one was eager to bring it up again. That suited Natsu just fine. Sadly, it was hard to completely forget when they had to ration food for breakfast. He hated any kind of rationing and could already tell that this would be a pain in the neck. If nothing else, he hoped they found this stupid city soon so that they could start eating normally again. He was going to be hungry soon and he was already dreading it.

After eating and packing, Lucy summoned Pyxis, who dutifully pointed them west, and they set off walking. Every once in a while she would call her spirit out again to make sure they were staying on course, but she didn't want to do it too often for fear of draining her magic. Happy would also occasionally to fly up and take a look around, and Gray provided ice upon request.

The day grew hotter and hotter as the sun rose and climbed across the sky. It didn't bother Natsu any—the heat might get to him eventually if he was out in it for too long, in the same way that Gray wouldn't be able to handle subzero temperatures forever, but for now he was still enjoying it—but it was starting to wear on the others. Conversation eventually tapered off as everyone focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and the journey started to get rather boring and monotonous. Natsu hated boring and monotonous. Sometimes he'd try to strike up some banter to liven things up, and managed to pull responses out of everyone but Gray, who had become steadily quieter and more distracted. Natsu wasn't worried about that yet. So far that was pretty normal.

It was a little after noon, shortly after summoning Pyxis again, that Lucy swayed slightly and staggered to the left. She quickly righted herself, but paused as she frowned and shook her head.

"Are you okay?" Natsu asked.

"Getting lightheaded?" Gray asked shrewdly, finally pulling himself out of his thoughts long enough to look her up and down.

Lucy smiled almost apologetically. "Just a little. It's not a big deal."

"Let's take a break and get some water into you."

"It's really not–"

"It might not be a big deal now, but it could become one later," Gray interrupted firmly. "It's better to rest and recuperate a little now so that you don't collapse later. Besides, this time of day is one we should really be sitting out anyway, since it's so hot."

Erza nodded. "We aren't taking any chances," she agreed. "Happy said that he saw an outcropping not too far away. We might find a little shade there, and we can break for a while. Happy? Why don't you lead us there?"

"Aye sir!"

The Exceed's wings shimmered into existence and he launched himself off of Natsu's shoulder, where he had been perched. Flying a little ahead, he led the group for several minutes until a large, stony formation rose out of the ground ahead of them. They headed over and walked around its base until they found a patch of shade to rest in where the temperature was marginally lower.

"Sorry," Lucy muttered as she sank gratefully to the ground.

"It's not your fault," Gray said. "We would have had to stop soon anyway. Just remember to let us know as soon as anything starts to feel off. We'd rather be safe than sorry, and things can escalate quickly out here. Drink some water, eat something if you think it will help, and you can try taking a nap if you want. We'll probably be here for a while. Sleeping during the hottest part of the day isn't uncommon around here."

Lucy nodded and pulled out a canteen to get a drink, although she still looked embarrassed and unhappy. "I guess," she said with a sigh. "It's just that…I didn't have any problems yesterday, and now I'm getting wobbly halfway through today. It's annoying."

Gray's eyes softened. "It's not because you're weak or anything silly like that. Part of it is that you're already exhausted from walking all day yesterday and this morning, and you've been in the heat for a while. I think that part of it might also have to do with how often you've been summoning Pyxis. Sometimes using up too much magic can intensify the effects of certain things. I'm not sure exactly why. I think it's partly because using magic involves exerting yourself, and partly because your magic provides something of a buffer between you and the effects of the outside world. Maybe you should think about summoning your spirits less often.

"In any case, I think that once your magic recuperates, you'll do fine. The heat just takes a little getting used to. Once you start getting used to it, it won't be so hard."

Lucy seemed to perk up a little bit, so apparently Gray had said something right. The ice mage tossed her some ice to cool down with and then gave some to Erza and Happy as well. He even raised a questioning eyebrow at Natsu, but the dragon slayer turned his nose up at it. Natsu wasn't that desperate yet—the heat was still feeling pretty good at this point and hadn't started wearing him down—and he doubted he'd ever take Gray up on the offer even if something changed. Call it pride.

Lucy nibbled a little food, drank some water, and then pulled out her blanket and spread it over the hot sand so that she could lie down on it and close her eyes. It honestly looked like a pretty good idea to Natsu, who hadn't been too thrilled at being woken up so early this morning, so he followed suit, figuring that Gray and Erza would want them to stay here for at least an hour or two before getting started again. He didn't even protest when Happy crept over and curled up on the edge of the blanket. The temptation to tell him to go nap with Lucy was there, but Natsu resisted.

Happy fell asleep quickly, paws twitching as he fell into a dream, but Natsu remained awake for a little longer, listening to the quiet conversation that Gray and Erza had struck up.

"Erza, I really think you should consider taking off your armor," Gray said in a low voice so as not to disturb the napping mages.

"I don't think so," Erza replied dismissively.

Although Natsu's eyes were closed, he could hear Gray's weary sigh.

"It's going to be more of a hindrance than a help here, at least until we find the dark guild. I'm sure you already know that it basically acts as an oven out here."

"I'll be fine. I can handle it."

"I know you can. You're Erza, after all, and I doubt that something like this would ever stop you, but… Look, I understand that you feel more comfortable with it on, but right now you're just with us. You don't have to hide behind your armor when you're with us." Gray sighed again. "And honestly, I would feel a lot better if you took it off so that I didn't have to worry about you burning up in there. I don't like to think about you overheating because of it, and it's driving me crazy."

There was a long pause, and Natsu mentally applauded Gray. Turning the whole question of wearing the armor around to make it out like taking it off would be a personal favor to Gray was an ingenious move. Erza would never remove it if he just asked her to take it off because it would make her hot, but with this… Well, at least she seemed to be considering it.

"Alright," she said finally, her tone laced with reluctance. "I'll think about it."

"Thank you," Gray said quietly.

"While we're on this topic… Are you sure that you're up to this? I know you have this silly bet or whatever going on with Natsu, but I'll call the whole thing off if it's going to become a problem."

He sighed harshly. "You all don't need to worry so much. I'm not made of ice—you don't need to keep looking at me like you're worried I'll melt." He chuckled and tried to lighten the mood. "Seriously, you don't need to start worrying unless I start talking to things that aren't there."

Gray's attempt at levity obviously backfired, as Erza sounded even more worried.

"Did you do that last time?"

"I don't know," he replied, weariness creeping back into his voice as he sighed again. "I wasn't in my right mind. But I wasn't being serious. Look, I can handle myself. I've done this before and I know what to expect and what precautions to take. Just focus on finding and defeating the dark guild so that we can finish this job. I can take care of myself."

Erza might have said something else, but Natsu couldn't prevent himself from falling asleep any longer and dozed off.

He didn't know how long he slept, but he was woken up by, no surprise, an ice cube down the back of his shirt. Cursing and spluttering, he jumped up and worked it free, glowering at Gray the whole time. The ice mage smirked back, but Natsu thought there might be something tired and pained lurking behind the ready smile. Maybe he had imagined it.

"Rise and shine," Gray said, straightening up from where he had been crouching by Natsu's side. "It's time to wake up the others and get moving."

Looking around, Natsu noticed that, sure enough, everyone else appeared to be asleep, even Erza.

"I should whack you with a fireball to get you back for that," Natsu grumbled around a yawn.

Gray winced. "Can we save it for when we get back to the guild? The desert can fry me perfectly fine without your help."

No, Natsu couldn't very well hit Gray with a fire attack out here, could he? He sighed unhappily. Well, there was always later.

"Fine, fine," he agreed.

He poked at Happy, while Gray went to wake up Lucy and Erza. When Erza rose and efficiently packed up her blanket in preparation to get going, Natsu noticed that her breastplate was conspicuously missing. Gray really had convinced her to get rid of it after all. Natsu was impressed despite himself.

"Whoa, what happened to Erza's armor?" Happy asked as he stirred and looked around blearily.

"Gray managed to talk her out of it."

"Really?" Happy asked, taken aback. "Wow. I didn't realize he could be so persuasive."

Natsu hummed absently in agreement as he repacked his bag.

"Alright, let's get going," Erza said, oblivious to the conversation she was interrupting. "Happy, why don't you do a quick sweep from the sky and see if you can spot anything useful. We'll try to have Lucy use Pyxis less often and see if that helps her withstand the strain better. Let's go."

Everyone nodded in agreement and hoisted their packs as they got back to their aimless wandering of the desert. As the hours dragged on, everyone got more and more exhausted, and Gray became something of a silent ghost, lost in his own world. Still, no one showed any more early signs of heat exhaustion so Natsu wasn't too worried about that.

What he _was_ concerned about was the fact that as the sun began dipping below the horizon once more, the team was still no closer to finding their destination. Happy hadn't spotted anything from the map, so although they knew that they were still headed west thanks to Pyxis, they didn't know where they were in relation to the lost city and dark guild. Natsu wasn't _too_ worried yet since it wasn't like their situation was that desperate as of now, but he was starting to become a little concerned.

It seemed like Gray might have been right after all. They were far more off course than they had expected. Natsu could only hope that they got back on the right track before time ran out.

* * *

 **Note: Apparently I was on an animal attack kick for a while? I don't know. Also, Gray should just keep his mouth shut. Actually, that's exactly what he's going to do, and it's going to get him into trouble lol Anyway, next chapter is Gray's, which means _suffering_ :3**

 **emmahoshi: Don't worry, I can be stubborn too ;) Yeah, Natsu's not the kind of person who'll be over-the-top in blaming himself for things, but occasionally it's nice to see him take responsibility. Yes, Gray's at least partially withdrawn because he's worried and apprehensive, but a big part of it is the heat. Well, part of his knowledge comes from experience, and part of it is that he specifically did a lot of learning about this stuff back when he kept doing these jobs, to improve his odds. Ha, the point of the story was originally the heat stroke not the dark guild—the guild was just an excuse to get the team into the desert. But something important _will_ happen in the city...it's just not necessarily the dark guild that's the most important element :3 Oh yeah, it's very much a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation with Gray. Because yes, I like torturing him way too much XD**


	8. Things begin to spiral out of control

**.**

 **Chapter 8**

 _(In which things begin to spiral out of control.)_

* * *

Things were going from bad to worse for Gray. The first day out in the desert had sucked, but he had been able to handle it. Sure, the heat had started frying his brain so that he let things slip that he'd really rather his friends didn't know—and he had every intention of keeping his mouth shut from here on out so that it didn't happen again—but it wasn't anything too bad.

The second day had been worse. He hadn't slept well the night before, so he was exhausted even without all the running around in the heat with a too-heavy pack. His headache and nausea had increased exponentially throughout the day, and he'd had a few minor dizzy spells that he'd been careful to keep hidden. It felt a little hypocritical after he'd made such a big deal out of Lucy's lightheadedness, but the truth was that he was just less resilient to the heat than the others. If they stopped every time he felt a little dizzy, they'd never get anywhere. He'd just have to hope that he could keep things under wraps without worrying everyone.

Gray wasn't weak and he wasn't prepared to give up yet, not unless things got really bad. Natsu's challenge aside, he just couldn't bear the thought of botching another desert mission and adding to his tally of failures. And pride aside, it was important that they take down this dark guild and rescue the kidnapped villagers. Gray didn't want to screw things up for them and be the one to send everything crumbling down. He hated feeling like the weak link.

So he stayed quiet, for better or for worse.

Daylight would soon be creeping over the horizon to herald the start of the third day of the team's desert trip, and Gray kept watch from where he was sitting cross-legged on his bedroll. He had given up on sleeping a long time ago, after he'd woken up for the fifth or sixth time. The sleep he _had_ gotten had been restless and disorienting, less because of nightmares and more because he never seemed to sleep well in the heat. Which wasn't very fair in this case, given that it had actually been pretty cold once the sun had gone down.

Whatever the case, he couldn't sleep. Instead he'd just been sitting quietly for the past hour or two, listening to the occasional eerie calls of the wandering coyote packs as he waited for an appropriate time to wake up the others. It wasn't all bad since the chilly air had helped ease his headache a bit, but it had been boring and lonely, and he was ready to get his friends up and moving.

As the stars flickered out of view and the pitch black of night started fading into a dusky gray, he ran out of patience and stood, wincing slightly as he stretched to work the cramps out of his muscles. A minor wave of nausea swept through him at the movement, but he stood still for a moment and it receded. It would get worse again when the sun came up, but for now the cold was just starting to melt into warmth.

He could easily make out the shadows of his sleeping friends against the backdrop of predawn gray. Since he had woken Erza up first yesterday, he ghosted over to Lucy's still form and crouched down so that he could shake her gently. She stirred a little and mumbled something unintelligible under her breath, so Gray shook her a little harder. Her eyes finally opened and she blinked up at him blearily.

"Huh? Gray?" She looked around slowly and groaned, but obediently sat up and rubbed at her eyes. "Morning already?"

"Afraid so," he said sympathetically, able to empathize with how tired she was. "Good morning. We'll want to head out soon, so could you wake up Erza for me?"

Lucy nodded around a yawn and stood up to stretch. Still half asleep, she didn't bother responding verbally but silently stumbled over to where Erza was sleeping. Satisfied, Gray turned away to poke at the sleep feline curled up on the edge of the blanket. Happy batted his hand away lethargically, and Gray felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards in a faint smile.

"Wake up, Happy."

The Exceed cracked one eye open and then closed it again. For a second it looked like he might just fall right back asleep, but then he yawned widely, arched his back in a luxurious stretch, and sat up.

"It's so early," he grumbled, eyes drooping in tiredness as he rubbed at his face with his little paws. Then a thought seemed to occur to him and he twisted his head to look at Natsu sleeping a short distance away. His eyes lit up and he looked back at Gray, suddenly much more awake. "Ice cube?" he asked hopefully.

Maybe he was still a little miffed that last night Natsu had told him in no uncertain terms that he was welcome to sleep with Lucy again since he had been a traitor.

"Yup," Gray agreed with a chuckle, pulling himself to his feet and heading for Natsu.

He might not be allowed to complain, but he could definitely annoy his friend with a rude awakening. It was the least Natsu deserved, really, and Gray felt entirely justified in exacting a small measure of revenge for the hell the flame-brained fool was putting him through.

Dropping to his knees beside Natsu, Gray created a small chip of ice to drop down the back of the dragon slayer's neck. The reaction was immediate—there would be no slow, leisurely return to consciousness for Natsu. Natsu's eyes flew open and he jumped to his feet, dancing around and cursing as his hands scrabbled at the back of his shirt.

Gray sat back on his heels to watch the show, smiling a little. This was about the only perk this job had, and he was determined to enjoy it while it lasted. It wasn't like he'd find much enjoyment once the sun came up.

Happy started laughing his head off and even the girls roused themselves, pushing aside their drowsy stupor to watch Natsu's antics with no little amusement. Apparently the chilly wakeup call had the added bonus of waking everyone else up as well.

Natsu finally managed to work the ice free and turned on the rest of the team, wearing an impressive scowl. His eyes fixed on Gray and his glower deepened as he stepped towards the ice mage and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him up off the ground so that they could stand face to face. Gray grunted as he was yanked upwards unceremoniously and batted at the offending hand irritably, but Natsu didn't let go, just twisting his hand more tightly in Gray's shirt as he leaned forward to get in his face.

"What the hell?" Natsu growled. "Are you going to do this every damn day?"

He wasn't really yelling, but his voice was loud in the morning stillness and the headache Gray had been nursing for the past couple days suddenly came back full force. Gray winced automatically and leaned as far away from Natsu as he could while his friend still had a grip on his shirt.

Natsu said something else, but Gray did his best to tune him out as he withdrew into himself in a vain attempt to escape the noise.

"–ray? Gray?"

Natsu's voice finally cut through the pounding in his head, and Gray looked up and forced his eyes to focus on his friend. The dragon slayer's anger had melted into something resembling concern.

"Are you okay?"

Gray forced a smile and pushed at his hand. Natsu immediately released his shirt and retreated a half-step, suddenly looking repentant. For a second the world seemed to tilt and the throbbing in Gray's ears muffled all outside sound, but then his vision cleared and he remained upright despite the brief wobble.

"Oh yeah," he said dismissively. "But it's too early in the morning for you to be that damn loud."

A faintly puzzled look flitted over Natsu's face, but Erza cut in before he could say anything.

"That was uncalled for, Natsu," she said, giving him a disapproving glare.

"Um, yeah." Natsu winced and dropped his gaze to the ground as he shuffled his feet. "Sorry."

Gray blinked at him in surprise, wondering why he felt the need to apologize for something so stupid. Apparently he was thinking clearly enough to be scared of Erza now.

"It's fine," Gray replied with a shrug.

"It's not fine." Erza frowned over at Natsu.

"Sure it is. Just because he was up didn't mean that he was really awake. It always takes at _least_ a few seconds for his mind to catch up with his mouth at the best of times, much less when he's just been startled awake. He's an annoying jerk, but it's not a big deal."

He resisted the urge to rub at his temples in a vain attempt to soothe his throbbing head. No point being really obvious about it, especially when everyone was watching him now. Waving them off, he suggested that they eat, pack, and get moving. Erza sighed and dropped the subject, and the team settled down to eat breakfast.

Gray ate a little, but only because he knew he'd need to choke something down now since the heat would sap his appetite later. Right now it wasn't the heat that was making him so reluctant to eat, but the headache and occasional twinges of nausea it exacerbated. Luckily the others seemed to brighten up a bit as they shook off their tiredness and started up a conversation that he didn't even try to follow.

After breakfast, everyone went to pack up their things and Gray was so distracted that he didn't even notice Natsu walk up to him until the dragon slayer spoke.

"I'm really sorry," Natsu mumbled, glancing off to the side in embarrassment.

Gray stared at him blankly for a moment before sighing and standing up from where he'd been kneeling by his pack in the sand.

"Why the hell are you apologizing again?" he asked tiredly. "Is Erza still harassing you?"

Natsu kept his eyes on the ground as he shifted uncomfortably. "Not Erza," he muttered. "You've just been really…quiet."

"You thought I was being quiet because I was mad?" Gray asked incredulously.

"Not exactly."

"…You really thought I'd get my feelings hurt over something silly like that?"

Natsu scowled at the ground. "I don't know."

Gray shook his head wearily. "How is this any different from normal?" he asked with a sigh. "I've been pretty quiet for the past couple days, I think. It's a heat thing."

"It's not even hot yet."

"It will be. And it's a desert thing in general. Don't worry about it—it's normal."

Gray picked up his bag as he noticed that the girls were finished.

"Let's get going," Erza called over to them.

"Coming," Gray said. He started to head over but paused and glanced back at Natsu, a possible explanation for his friend's odd behavior coming to mind. Leave it to the idiot to ignore something for an entire day and then bring it up out of nowhere. "Stop worrying about everything. I'm doing fine."

He turned away, but hadn't made it more than a few steps before Natsu spoke up from behind him.

"If you had told me why you were so against coming here, I wouldn't have pressured you to come," the dragon slayer said in a quiet voice.

And there it was.

Gray paused again and narrowed his eyes at the ground. "I know."

"I know we don't usually talk about things, but you can tell me something like that."

"I know."

"Then why didn't you?"

"It's not because I didn't think I could talk to you, if that's what you're thinking," Gray said quietly, still not looking back at his friend. "Stop being so weird. Let's go before Erza gets mad at us."

Natsu stayed silent for a moment longer, but then Gray heard his footsteps crunching in the sand. "Yeah, okay. But–"

Gray turned to the side and met Natsu's conflicted eyes. He leaned forward and stared at his friend somberly.

"But nothing. Stop moping around over something stupid. It's unbecoming." He let out a breath. "I didn't think I'd have to actually tell you this, but since you're being so stupid… You've been my best friend for a long time, Natsu. I know how you work. I usually understand what you do and don't mean, why you do the idiotic things you do, and even what you're thinking half the time. So stop with the apologizing and worrying over every little thing. I already know this stuff, alright? Now paste your stupid grin back on and get ready to entertain everyone with your annoying, ceaseless chatter again, because this trip is going to be miserable if you're being such a damn fool the whole time."

Natsu stared back at him in shock for a few seconds, before ducking his head and nodding. "Okay," he said thickly, clearing his throat.

"The stupid grin, flame brain."

Natsu looked back up again, and after a second he laughed and shook his head. His normal toothy smile spread across his face and his mood seemed to brighten considerably.

"It's not stupid," he said cheerfully.

Gray found himself smiling back a little, despite his exhaustion and discomfort. "Well, _you're_ stupid, so by extension your grin is too. Now let's go."

He was actually kind of surprised that Erza hadn't bothered them when they were making her wait, but maybe she'd guessed that they were having a kind of important conversation. In any case, Gray wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth and he wasn't going to test how far he could push Erza before she got really annoyed, so he headed over to where Happy and the girls were waiting, tolerating Natsu's protestations and chatter the whole way. He even joked around with the idiot and the others for a few minutes to allay any lingering concerns, although that didn't last long.

It was already getting unpleasantly warm, and it quickly got downright hot. As the team hiked aimlessly through the desert in a westerly direction, Gray lapsed into silence once more. The heat and glare of the sun reflecting off the endless sands made his head pound, and even just attempting to follow his friends' conversation hurt. So he remained in a distracted daze of discomfort, broken only by occasional requests for ice cubes. For the most part the others left him alone, apparently getting used to how unresponsive he became in the heat.

The only thing that really broke him out of his misery was the main afternoon break. As usual, Erza had Happy look for any kind of shade while he was scouting so that they had a slightly cooler place to rest during the hottest hours of the day. These usually ended up being large boulders or rocky outcroppings since that was about all this godforsaken place had, and today was no different. Natsu provided his token protests that they should just keep walking, but Gray knew it was mostly for show at this point since he was tiring out and would happily fall asleep within seconds.

Gray sank down gratefully with his back to the dusty red wall of rock, and the others were also quick to gather in the sparse shade.

"Ow!" Happy muttered, shuffling his feet and grimacing. "The sand is so hot."

It was indeed, which was why they oftentimes set up blankets—or bedroll in Gray's case, since he'd given his blanket to the most annoying of his friends—to sit on. Happy normally stayed in someone's arms or on a blanket to protect his paw pads from the heat, but he'd settled in the sand before remembering that this time.

Gray crossed his legs and scooped up the little cat, depositing Happy in his lap. Happy squawked in surprise, but then smiled ruefully and settled himself into a more comfortable position.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Hey, do you want to send him over here instead?" Erza asked. "He can sit on the blanket instead of on you. He's like a little furnace."

"Nah," Gray replied, chuckling a little despite the truth in her words. "It's fine."

She just shrugged and dug out a canteen. Everyone drank some water, and Natsu and the girls nibbled on some food as well. That reminded Gray of something, and he turned his attention to Lucy.

"Hey Luce, do you have enough food and water or should I start transferring some of it back to you?"

"Um…" Lucy glanced down at her bag thoughtfully. "Yeah, you can give me some of my water back."

Gray leaned over as far as he could without dislodging Happy and held out a hand. Lucy obediently passed her bag over, and Gray started the arduous process of rearranging things. He took Lucy's empty canteens and put a couple full ones back, along with some food. He gave her little extra food, to be honest, because he clearly wasn't going to be eating as much as the rest of them anyway.

Satisfied, he returned Lucy's pack to her and gave some food from his bag to Happy. The Exceed nibbled away happily, and Gray leaned back against the rock again with a sigh.

"Hey Gray, can I have an ice cube?" Lucy asked.

No rest for the weary. He snorted but tossed her one and gave one to Erza for good measure. He gave Natsu a questioning look, but the dragon slayer just scowled and shook his head. Gray rolled his eyes. Natsu was durable and wouldn't be nearly as bad off as the rest of them, but this was the third day in and Gray figured that he must be starting to feel it by now. So he lobbed an ice cube at him anyway, and although Natsu grumbled and said he didn't need it, he also kept it until it melted. Gray hid a smirk at his friend's stubbornness.

He summoned up one more ice chip and began rubbing it against Happy's fur, making sure that it reached the skin underneath all that fluff. The little feline let out a contented purr, his eyes closing as he twisted about a little so that Gray could reach better. Within minutes Happy had drifted off to sleep with a small smile on his face, his damp fur quickly drying in the sun. Gray watched him through half-lidded eyes, still absently stroking the Exceed's fur even though the ice had melted away. It was strangely soothing.

The others had been watching in amusement, but after a couple teasing comments they curled up one by one. Sleeping was about the best thing to do out here at this time of day, reducing the misery of the heat and the tedium of the waiting. Gray rested his head against the rock and closed his eyes, but he figured it would end up like yesterday and the day before, when he had been the only one left awake.

Sure enough, everyone fell asleep quickly and Gray was left alone with only his aching head for company. Still, he was tired enough that he eventually began drifting in and out of a restless almost-sleep, meandering through fragmented, half-remembered dreams only to be jerked back to awareness every few minutes. It was honestly worse than no sleep at all.

But apparently he did manage to fall into a deeper sleep at one point, or at least one deep enough to keep him trapped in some sort of chaotic nightmare he didn't really understand. He woke up flailing and gasping for air, and didn't even realize immediately when his sudden movement sent Happy flying. It took a second to break out of his dazed panic and focus on reality, but then he noticed the Exceed sprawled in the sand nearby and his eyes widened.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry, Happy. Are you okay?"

Happy picked himself up and shook some sand out of his fur. "I'm fine," he said, his wings materializing so that he could hover a few inches above the hot sand. "Nightmare?"

Gray forced a smile and tried to smooth out his expression, stop the trembling of his hands, and slow his too-fast heartrate and breathing. "It's not a big deal," he said airily.

"Really? 'Cause you're shaking like a leaf," Natsu said.

Gray's head whipped around and he cursed silently as he noticed that the dragon slayer was sitting cross-legged a short distance away, awake and watching him with slightly narrowed eyes. Even better, Lucy and Erza were awake too. Gray didn't know if he had woken them up with his sudden thrashing about or if they had already been awake, but he would have preferred it if there hadn't been any witnesses.

"Really," he said firmly, irritation creeping into his voice.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucy asked.

Gray stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Um, no?"

"You should tell us what it was about," Erza chimed in, giving him a hard look.

Gray grimaced, not appreciating that everyone was ganging up on him. He wouldn't tell them about his dreams even if he could remember them. Luckily this time he didn't remember much of anything, so he could ward them off without actually lying.

"I don't know. I don't really remember much of it."

Erza and Lucy shrugged it off with almost identical sighs, but Natsu and Happy exchanged looks and gave him suspicious glances. Gray didn't know what their problem was.

"Well, it's about time to get moving again, so we might as well pack up," Erza said.

Gray nodded enthusiastically, ready to get everyone off his case, and jumped to his feet. He immediately regretted the sudden movement when the world spun about in a dizzying fashion and then went black.

When he came back to his senses, he was on his hands and knees in the sand, staring blankly at the ground. Well fuck. He'd passed out. He should have known better than to stand up so suddenly.

"Gray! Are you okay?" Erza demanded.

Betting on the likelihood that his blackout hadn't lasted longer than a few seconds, Gray pushed himself to his feet, moving more slowly this time, and dusted himself off.

"Yeah, the sand shifted and I fell," he grumbled, the lie automatic.

He should probably just tell them the truth, but it's not like they could really do anything about the situation. They were lost and the only way to pull out now would be to abandon their mission. Gray didn't want that. Plus, he still wanted to finish this job to prove something to himself and he didn't want to give Natsu the satisfaction of seeing him screw up.

Erza hesitated a moment before turning away to pack up her bag. "Be more careful."

"Yeah, yeah," Gray mumbled, trying to keep the relief out of his voice.

"You're so clumsy," Natsu added, shaking his head as he packed up his things.

Gray relaxed. He'd managed to assuage everyone's concerns, which was good. What was less good was the fact that he'd passed out and would now have to be more careful. It was a definite sign that his body wasn't coping well, and he had little doubt that more serious symptoms would start cropping up soon.

He was right. In fact, he didn't have to wait very long at all. They'd only been walking for another hour or so when he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye and whipped around, his eyes scanning the sands. Nothing moved. He could have sworn that he'd seen something large and misshapen lumbering around off to the side, something that he hadn't caught a good look at but that seemed vaguely reminiscent of an all-too-familiar demon.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked. "Gray?"

"I thought I saw…" Gray shook his head and turned back to the others, forcing another smile.

He hadn't seen anything at all. At least nothing that was actually there. If he was already starting to hallucinate things… It wasn't a big deal at this second, but it would get worse. They'd get more vivid, more real, until he could no longer tell reality from fantasy. He really hoped that it didn't get to that point again.

"Nothing," he said with a shrug, starting forward again. "Must've been the glare on the sands."

Everyone accepted the explanation without any fuss and continued on. Gray drank a little water, conjured up a few more ice cubes, and hoped for the best. It was about all he could do at this point. A little voice in the back of his head said that this was not, in fact, all he could do. He could tell the others that they needed to stop and take a break, or could come clean about everything and suggest that they opt for the shorter way out of the desert instead of continuing their blind search.

But although Gray's mental faculties weren't completely incapacitated yet, his brain wasn't exactly working at full strength either. The heat and nausea and headache were working together to dull his senses and his wits, until the only thing he was really paying attention to was the pressing need to move forward. Take one step and then another and then another. He wouldn't complain, wouldn't lose the challenge, wouldn't fail the job, wouldn't let the desert defeat him again. It wasn't really such a big deal, just a few minor setbacks. It's not like he was on the verge of dying or anything.

Gray focused on those thoughts and pushed forward, only dragging himself out of his daze whenever someone requested an ice cube or asked him a question. At one point he realized he had been so distracted that he had even forgotten to keep drinking water despite the burning thirst clawing at his throat, and hurriedly remedied that situation. It wouldn't do to get dehydrated and keel over.

He was relieved when the sun finally started sinking and the team decided to set up camp. The slowly cooling temperature helped make him a little less miserable, but he was still too exhausted and uncomfortable to say much at dinner. He forced himself to eat a fairly decent-sized meal because he knew that he hadn't been eating enough and it could come back to bite him later. With how little he had been eating lately he should be ravenous, and that he was barely hungry at all was probably not a good sign.

Unsurprisingly, the long day had taken a toll on everyone, and the exhausted mages went to bed as soon as they finished eating. Gray lay down as well, listening as everyone's breathing eventually evened out. Everyone's but Erza's. When Gray cracked his eyes open, he could just barely make out her sitting form in the faint moonlight, a shadow slightly blacker than the surrounding night. Since he wasn't going to be sleeping peacefully anytime soon anyway, he watched her for a few minutes before deducing that she had no intention of sleeping yet.

He pushed himself up, moving slowly as to not irritate the ever-present nausea, and silently moved to sit next to her. She looked up in surprise as he dropped to the ground and crossed his legs comfortably.

"Why are you still up?" she asked.

He let his gaze slide sideways and studied her silently for a few moments. It was hard to make out all of her features, but she didn't seem very happy.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said with a sigh. "I'm here because you're here, Erza. Why are you here?"

Erza stared at him for a second before biting her lip and looking away. "I don't know. I guess I couldn't sleep."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Insomnia? It's not that uncommon to sometimes not fall asleep right away."

Gray resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He'd had enough sleepless nights in the past to have a good idea of what was plain insomnia and what was caused by restless thoughts.

"What's bothering you?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just can't fall asleep right away tonight, that's all."

"Erza, you'd make this a lot easier on both of us if you'd just be honest with me," Gray said tiredly.

She looked over, wide eyes shimmering faintly in the starlight, but then sighed and gave in. "I'm just worried. We know that the dark guild is somewhere to the west and we know that we're heading west thanks to Pyxis, but…we still haven't found it, and it would be all too easy to miss it altogether. And I know that we can handle these harsh conditions for a while, but I also don't know how long it's going to take to find this city."

"That's true," he agreed bluntly. No point sugarcoating things with Erza. "Depending on how far off course we got, we could end up traveling parallel to the city and never even notice that we passed it. On the bright side, the terrain is so flat and featureless that it will stick out like a sore thumb, and Happy can see for miles when he's up in the air. And we have enough supplies to last a few more days, plus you– _we_ should be able to handle the heat a while longer."

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied her. "But you know that. What else is bothering you?"

She smiled ruefully. "I really can't pull anything over on you, can I?" she asked with a quiet laugh. "It's just…Three days now, we've been out here and there's no end in sight. I really screwed up navigating. Regardless of what role you and the others played, that was ultimately my responsibility and I did a bad job. I was hoping that I could fix it and get us back on track quickly, but…I'm not having any luck and it feels like I'm failing."

Gray let out his breath in a weary sigh. He couldn't say that he was entirely surprised by that. Along with her other duties as the team's unofficial leader, Erza was usually the one left in charge of navigation, and getting lost here had been a huge setback. If they had found the trail again quickly then it wouldn't be an issue, but they had been wandering around aimlessly for days now. She would take that as a personal failure, just like Gray took it as a personal failing that he handled deserts so badly.

And more than that, he heard what she hadn't quite said. It wasn't just that she felt like she was failing, but that she felt like she was failing _them_.

"I already said that getting lost wasn't anyone's fault," he said mildly. "It's not easy to navigate out here when there aren't a whole lot of landmarks to go by. Getting lost was a mistake, but when have we ever let ourselves get discouraged by something so minor? Yeah, something went wrong. Now we just need to focus on fixing it instead of feeling bad about it."

Erza sighed. "I know, but–"

"Erza," Gray interrupted, meeting her eyes steadily, "I've known you for a long time, and not once have you let me down. You haven't failed the team before and you haven't failed us now. Now pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start moving forward again."

She stared at him for a long moment before swallowing hard and looking away. "Yeah," she mumbled. "You're right."

"I know I am. Now, in order to do your best tomorrow, you need to get some rest. Go to sleep, Erza."

She hesitated, before sighing and giving in.

"Yeah, I guess so." She flopped over unceremoniously to stretch out on her bedroll, removing the blanket she'd wrapped herself in so that she could spread it over herself to ward off the cold. Then she frowned up at him. "You should go to bed too."

"I'll go to bed just as soon as you fall asleep." Gray smiled faintly and, for an instant, amusement sparked in his eyes. "We wouldn't want that insomnia to catch up to you again, would we?"

She chuckled. "You don't have to sit up with me."

He sighed and shifted, leaning back so that he was lying on the ground next to Erza with his arms propping himself up. Tilting his head back, he stared absently at the twinkling stars.

"I know," he said quietly. "But I want to. So go to sleep."

She didn't respond for several long seconds. "Yeah," she whispered finally. "Thanks. Goodnight, Gray."

"Goodnight, Erza."

Gray stayed there and stared at the stars long after Erza finally fell asleep. Then he sighed again, wondering why he was bothering to put off the inevitable. The restless in-and-out sleep would suck, but surely it had to be better than nothing. He was so damn _tired_ that he wanted to sleep for a year, and at this point he would take what he could get.

Sitting up, he took a moment to study Erza's sleeping face in the moonlight. She looked a lot more peaceful when she was asleep, not plagued by her waking worries. He smiled faintly and brushed a stray piece of crimson hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear to keep it out of the way.

Then he stood up with a groan and immediately realized that something was wrong.

Despite having moved gingerly, the world tilted in a disconcerting fashion and his stomach roiled uncomfortably. He clapped a hand over his mouth as he dry heaved and hoped that standing still for a few seconds would help the dizziness and nausea pass, but it didn't work this time.

He stumbled away from where everyone was sleeping, but didn't make it far before he swayed and fell forward onto his hands and knees, the world fading in and out but never quite disappearing entirely. He retched into the sand, his body shaking and heaving for what seemed like an eternity before it finally stopped and he leaned back to sit on his heels. Trying to normalize his shallow, rapid breathing, he swiped a hand across his mouth and grimaced.

So much for having eaten dinner.

He swept some sand over the unsavory remains of his last meal and staggered to his feet. Making his way back to his bedroll on unsteady legs, he dug through his bag until he found a half-empty canteen. He rinsed out his mouth and then took a few swallows of water, knowing that throwing up would have left him even more dehydrated than before.

Gray pulled himself back to his feet carefully, intent on testing his limits, and immediately regretted it. The nausea slammed into him almost immediately and he only made it a few steps before vomiting again. Fuck. He couldn't even keep water down anymore. On the bright side, he'd already thrown up almost everything that was on his stomach so there wasn't much to hide this time.

Not wanting to risk standing again, Gray crawled back to his bedroll and curled up in a miserable, trembling ball. He knew he really needed to drink more water to make up for everything he was losing, but the thought of swallowing anything else right now was thoroughly unappealing. But it was necessary if he didn't want to collapse in front of the others and freak them out, so he eventually relented, drinking very slowly and pausing between each sip to make sure that his stomach settled. Even though he knew it really wasn't enough, he called it quits after just a few sips, deciding to just cut his losses.

He remained awake for a long time, his breathing harsh and shallow in his ears as he rode out periodic waves of nausea and muscle cramps. He'd realized that his muscles were starting to weaken during the day, but now they'd started cramping in earnest and it hurt. But he could handle that. It was the nausea and dizziness that worried him more, because those would be harder to hide. He supposed that he would have to give up trying to eat in the mornings and afternoons entirely now and only eat at night. At least at night he would have a better chance of keeping his food down, and hopefully if he had to throw up then he could hold out until everyone was asleep. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do.

He eventually began drifting in and out of a restless slumber, but it was even more miserable than the previous nights because he still felt ill and weak. Luckily his discomfort began fading sometime deep in the night and he slept a little better, although he still woke up long before anyone else. After he finally gave up trying to sleep, Gray just lay there silently, staring blankly out at the night until he decided that it was late enough to wake the others.

He was cautious not to move too quickly when he pushed himself up off the ground, but luckily it seemed like the worst of it was over. For now.

He picked his way over to Natsu and dropped to his knees beside his friend. For a second he debated whether or not he felt like waking Natsu up with another ice cube, but he was just too tired and out of sorts to really want to. He was so exhausted that even making a tiny chip of ice seemed extraordinarily difficult, despite the fact that it would barely take any magic at all.

"Wake up, flame brain," he said, shaking Natsu's shoulders.

Natsu groaned and stirred, mumbling under his breath as he rubbed his eyes and blinked up at Gray blearily. Then a frown spread across his face.

"What, no ice cube today?" he asked uncertainly.

"No ice cube," Gray agreed.

Instead of looking pleased, Natsu's frown deepened. "Because I yelled at you yesterday?"

Gray stared at him blankly for a second. "No," he said, sighing and shaking his head. "It has nothing to do with that. I just didn't feel like doing it today." He forced a smile. "Unless you want one?"

"No, no, that's okay," Natsu said hurriedly, shaking his head violently as he scooted backwards.

"Well, it's time to wake up everyone else, so get up and moving."

A brief smile flickered across Gray's face and he pushed himself to his feet to go wake Erza up, but paused when Natsu scrambled to his feet and drew in a breath to speak.

"Are you okay?" the dragon slayer asked cautiously. "You look really…tired."

Gray chuckled wearily. Tired. Right. Tired was one hell of an understatement.

"I'm fine."

"It's just…Have you not been sleeping well? I mean, you were having that nightmare yesterday and then before when–" Natsu's mouth snapped shut with an audible click and Gray frowned at him, wondering what he had been about to say.

"Before when what?"

"Nothing," Natsu mumbled. Gray arched an eyebrow and gave him a hard look. "Well, you know, back in the village…"

It took a second for the words to click, but then Gray sighed. Of course. He hadn't been entirely sure of whether or not Natsu and Happy had known about his nightmares that night they'd spent in the village, but he wasn't terribly surprised to hear that they had. They had been up before him, after all, and he couldn't imagine that he hadn't been tossing and turning.

"Don't worry, nightmares haven't been keeping me up or anything like that."

That was technically true. Technically it wasn't nightmares that were the problem. There were, of course, other reasons why he wasn't sleeping, but Natsu didn't need to know that.

"Let's wake everyone up," Gray added, turning away.

Luckily Natsu dropped the subject and went to wake up Lucy and Happy. Gray prodded Erza awake and smiled a little as she blinked up at him in confusion until she shook off her sleep-induced daze.

"Sleep well?" he asked, giving her a conspiratorial grin.

She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. Thanks."

Gray laughed quietly and went to pack up his things. He begged off of breakfast, using the excuse that he had already eaten because he'd woken up earlier than them and was hungry. Everyone accepted his explanation, and a few minutes later they were off trudging across the desert again, after checking with Pyxis one more time to confirm that they were heading in the right direction.

If Gray had been distracted and out of sorts before, this was worse. Today was different in that things were spiraling out of control faster than he could keep up with them. He passed out twice, managing to play off one time as clumsiness and thanking his lucky stars that the other time occurred during the midday break when everyone else was asleep. He could only be so clumsy before the others got suspicious. The nausea didn't go away either, and he spent half of the midday nap dry heaving as the others slept.

His head seemed to pound in time to his weary footsteps, lightning pains splitting through his skull at every step. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to correct his shallow breathing or too-fast heartbeat, which worsened his lightheadedness and made it difficult to walk in a straight line. Sometime during the late afternoon he realized that he had stopped sweating almost entirely, his skin hot and dry to the touch, a testament to how dehydrated he was. Even though his throat ached and he was desperately thirsty, he was cautious about drinking too much at once in case it kicked up his nausea again.

He began catching quick glimpses of things out of the corner of his eye that disappeared as soon as he looked at them. His muscles weakened until they started feeling like jelly except when they were rocked by the occasional spasm. Carrying his pack and even just putting one foot in front of the other became almost unbearable chores.

He also noticed that it seemed even hotter out today, but he didn't think it was because the day was really any warmer. He couldn't be entirely sure, but he was getting the feeling that his magic wasn't replenishing itself as quickly it was supposed to. Suddenly it felt like every little piece of ice he made was a drain on his magic, and as his magic drained away, any last buffer it had been providing against the heat began to fade as well.

Because of that, he had stopped making ice for himself. When the others asked for ice cubes he would make them without complaint, but it had become downright exhausting to use even that tiny bit of magic.

The rational part of Gray's mind was saying that it was a damn stupid idea to get himself killed for his pride. That part was screaming warnings that the situation had gotten out of control and he needed to tell the others what was wrong _right now_ and get the hell out of the desert before anything worse happened. Unfortunately, that part was small and shrinking quickly as the heat worked its way through his brain and began shutting down all rational thought. Its warnings were drowned out in a hazy delirium and his mantra from earlier resurfaced and ran through his mind over and over again, giving him something to focus on as it crowded out all other thought. He wouldn't complain, wouldn't lose the challenge, wouldn't fail the job, wouldn't let the desert defeat him again.

Not even if it killed him.

* * *

 **Note: Poor kid. And if you think I can't make it _way_ worse, you're wrong. Starting next chapter we'll begin getting into a little more plot again. It's not really a great plot for Gray.**

 **emmahoshi: Ha, you almost _didn't_ get a chapter today. Stuff happened and I was up until 4:30 a.m. editing this for you guys :P At which point most normal people would've just called it a day and decided to finish up and post tomorrow, but I tackled it with a "fierce but idiotic determination" lol By the time I'd finished I was too tired to bother with A/Ns. Ha ha, yeah, it's not a good idea to mix someone who's naturally stubborn with a weakness to heat, because heat _can_ mess with your head and limit the flexibility of your thinking. Let Gray have his fun with the ice cubes XD If someone dragged me into a desert, I'd make sure to mess with them too. And yeah, Natsu's going to feel bad. Oh no, not social networking lol I can't stand that stuff. I'm a super private person and not big on sharing. And Gray is kinda the same way except he has real-life friends XD Lol, you're right, when I have I ever _not_ made things worse? :D**


	9. The team finally catches a break

**Note: I hope everyone had a great Christmas! And if not, I hope that tomorrow is at least a little brighter :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 _(In which the team finally catches a break and Natsu thinks everything is going great.)_

* * *

Dinner on the eve of the fourth day had been solemn and quiet because no one wanted to be the one to bring up a worrying fact. Namely, that Gray had estimated they had enough supplies for four or five days when he had made his initial assessment of the situation back on day one. But now, as the fifth day dawned, it became impossible to ignore the issue.

Well, to be fair, they managed to avoid the topic until after breakfast.

Natsu had been woken up by Lucy instead of by an ice cube, which was both good—for obvious reasons—and bad. He'd briefly wondered whether Gray really was more upset about the yelling thing than he was letting on, but then decided that maybe it was just because he was exhausted and worn out.

Still, he seemed to be coping with the heat better than Natsu had expected him to. Sure, he was clearly miserable, but other than that he seemed alright. He wasn't having dizzy spells like Lucy, and hadn't complained about anything or mentioned any sign of heat exhaustion. In fact, Natsu had noticed that he had even stopped using his magic to cool off. Maybe he was starting to get used to the heat a little bit. Aside from being awfully quiet and distracted, he seemed fine.

The others were doing pretty alright too. Once they'd started taking afternoon naps, lightheadedness and other worrying signs had become much less common. That wasn't to say that the heat wasn't wearing them down, because it was. Even Natsu was starting to feel it, and he knew that things would start getting bad for the rest of them if he was finally starting to get a little uncomfortable.

He was convinced that they could all handle the conditions, but the lack of supplies was something else. They ate the last of the food for breakfast, which felt like a death knell. Gray might be less concerned about running out of food than water, but Natsu happened to like food.

Natsu could tell that the girls were worried about it too. Gray seemed to be the only one who was unfazed, although that might just be because he wasn't paying much attention to anything at all.

Whatever the case, no one addressed the issue hanging over their heads until they had already packed up camp and started walking again.

"We're going to have to discuss this," Erza said finally as they trudged over a particularly large sand dune.

"Do we have to?" Natsu muttered.

"Yes," she said firmly. "We've run out of food. Gray estimated that we'd have four or five days' worth of water, maybe a little more. We're starting day five and I'm not sure exactly where we stand right now."

"One and a half days of water, maybe," Gray replied. His voice had a distant, far-off quality that made Natsu wonder exactly how much attention he was paying to the conversation.

Erza nodded unenthusiastically. "As much as I don't want to admit defeat, we're going to have to decide whether or not to cut our losses soon. We don't want to still be wandering around aimlessly when our water runs out."

Natsu scowled. "I don't want to give up."

"No one does, Natsu," Lucy said with a sigh. "But we're running out of options."

"What if we keep walking until our noon break?" Happy suggested. "If we haven't found the path by then, then we could change directions and get out of here. That would still leave us a day's worth of water for the trip out."

The others considered that.

"Is one day going to be enough time to escape?" Lucy asked doubtfully. "Maybe we should call it quits now just to be safe."

"But I bet we could make our water stretch longer than that if we really needed to," Natsu wheedled. The thought of giving up and starting over again was abhorrent to him. "Extra rationing or whatever."

"Yeah, if we want to risk dehydration."

Erza sighed. "I don't know. What do you think, Gray?"

Gray tilted his head slowly to look over at her. It looked like it took an effort to force his eyes to focus on her, confirming Natsu's suspicions that he had been zoning out.

"What?" he asked, his voice scratchy and dry.

Erza frowned disapprovingly. "Weren't you paying attention?"

"Sorry," he mumbled, his gaze drifting downwards to rest on the sand at his feet. "Not really."

Erza sighed and quickly recapped the conversation, finishing it up by asking for Gray's opinion again. He had been able to give them a solid assessment of their situation before, so it seemed reasonable to assume that he might be able to do so again. He considered the proposal for several long minutes, his face scrunched up thoughtfully. Natsu wondered if it was taking him so much longer to come up with an answer this time because the situation was harder to assess or if it was just because his thought process seemed to slow down in the heat.

Gray finally sighed. "This is all guesswork," he warned them. Even his words seemed drawn out and slow. "But I learned a few things about this desert last time I was here and asked the tribes some questions afterwards so that…"

He trailed off, his eyes seeming to glaze over. They waited for him to continue, but he didn't speak again and Natsu frowned.

"Gray?" he prompted.

Gray looked up and blinked at him uncomprehendingly for a second, before his eyes cleared a little and he grimaced.

"Yeah, sorry." He cleared his throat and winced at the painful grating sound it made. "Like I was saying…" He paused again and frowned thoughtfully as if trying to pick up his train of thought. Then he nodded to himself. "I think we've been drifting north."

"North? But we're going west!" Lucy protested. "We check Pyxis often enough to make sure of that."

"Yes, but there are gaps in between when we check Pyxis. We're still going west, but I think we've been gradually drifting northward as well."

Erza studied him thoughtfully. "What makes you say that?"

"The cacti," he replied absently.

Natsu felt his eyebrows inching upwards. "The cacti," he repeated flatly.

"Yeah." Gray shook his head as if to clear it. "Have you noticed that we've been seeing more and more cacti lately? There happen to be more cacti in the north of this desert, for whatever reason. But the difference isn't all that big, so this is a sketchy assumption to work off of.

"However, it's safe to assume that we've either drifted north or south over the past few days because it's very unlikely that we've been going in a completely straight line west. Assuming that we drifted in one direction or the other, I'd guess that north is more likely, although I could be completely wrong. In that case, if we decide to give up then we should go north. At the widest point, north to south, I'd say the journey could be up to four days. Assuming that we're exactly halfway, that would make a two-day journey. We're probably not at the widest point, so the trip should be a little shorter than that. But again, this is all guesswork."

"Two days is still too long," Happy pointed out.

Gray shrugged. "We might be closer than that."

"Or farther," Erza said pessimistically.

"Or farther," he agreed.

"We really should have discussed this sooner," the requip mage said with a sigh.

Natsu frowned, trying to come up with a way to convince the others not to give up the search but to do so without killing themselves. He puzzled it out for a few minutes while the girls and Happy debated their options, and then it hit him.

"I've got an idea! We can have Pyxis show us both west and north. That way we can head in a more northwesterly direction on purpose, so we're still going west but at the same time we're also heading north so that we're getting closer to the edge of the desert too. It's, like, both at once. We could do what Happy suggested and keep going west—or northwest—until the afternoon break, and if we haven't found the dark guild by then, we can give up and just go straight north."

No one answered immediately, but Natsu could tell that he was winning them over.

"That might work," Erza mused. "It's still riskier than just calling it quits now, but not as risky as just continuing to look for the dark guild. Best of both worlds. What do you think, Gray?"

Gray startled again and frowned as he searched his mind for what had been said. Seeing him so distracted and out of sorts was a little disconcerting.

"It could work," he said finally. "Maybe."

"Well…" Erza pulled out the map to study it thoughtfully. "It looks like this lost city is kind of to the northwest too. Maybe if we go northwest we'll be more likely to cross the path outlined on the map and Happy will spot one of the landmarks."

"We still might run out of water," Happy said glumly.

Lucy brightened. "Hey, in books people can cut open cacti to get the water inside. If we ran out of water, could we do that?"

"Only if you're stupid or desperate," Gray muttered.

"It works in books," she said defiantly.

"Welcome to real life. Most of the cacti here are barrel cacti. They've got liquid inside them, but it isn't pure water. It's acidic because…" He trailed off with a frown and then waved a hand dismissively. "Can't think of it right now. But it's poisonous and drinking it can make you really sick. I think there's one or two species that are safer to drink from, but they don't grow here."

"Which one were you?" Erza asked shrewdly. "Stupid or desperate?"

Gray looked over at her and his lips curved upwards into a dry smile. He chuckled, but the sound was rough and grating, and he broke off with a wince.

"Both," he said. "I knew better, but like I said, the heat will start frying your brain and you'll make stupid decisions."

No wonder he knew so much about deserts. It seemed like he'd tried just about everything.

Disappointment had settled over Lucy's features, but she suddenly perked up again. "Well, what about your ice? That's like a free source of water!"

Gray's face immediately twisted in distaste, and Natsu could feel his own features contort involuntarily.

"Yeah, but my ice isn't normal ice," Gray said. "It's like…You can't just make something out of nothing. You don't just make spirits out of thin air, do you?"

"Well no, I summon them with keys."

"Yeah, but only because they already exist in their own world. You're just opening a gateway, not actually creating something from scratch. Creation mages can't just make something out of nothing either, although what we make doesn't already exist in the same way your spirits do. I don't just summon ice out of nowhere. It's not just some random ice." Possessiveness flickered in his eyes, and Natsu understood the feeling. "It's _mine_. I make it out of my magic, out of my heart, my soul.

"Sometimes it's easy to forget since we just toss our magic around like it's nothing, and it has become so second-nature by this point that we take it for granted, but it's sacred, really. Eating my own ice would be like…cannibalism, of the worst kind. Why do you think Natsu doesn't eat his own fire? When you create something out of yourself, consuming it is just…" Gray trailed off and shook his head. "I don't even understand how all these dragon slayers can stand eating anyone else's magic. It's so weirdly intimate."

"Because it tastes good," Natsu said cheerfully. "Well, some of it does."

Gray snorted but looked back over at Lucy. "Well, I guess you could try it if you really wanted to. I won't do it though."

Lucy pulled a face, looking a little sickened. "No thanks, all the talk of cannibalism put me off."

That managed to pull a half-smile out of him. "Sorry."

"If it comes to that, it's an option," Erza said. "But let's try not to rely too much on Gray's magic. He's already worn out enough as it is."

"What?" Gray scowled. "I'm fine. I can–I can–"

He broke off with a cough that quickly evolved into a wheezing coughing fit. Natsu frowned and stepped forward, but Erza got there first. The requip mage wrapped a steadying arm around Gray, who swayed slightly and slumped against her until his coughing subsided.

"Are you alright?" she asked, peering at him intently.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he said in a scratchy voice as he carefully detached himself from his friend.

"Drink something," Erza advised, her tone brooking no argument.

"Yeah," he mumbled unenthusiastically.

He managed to shrug his pack off one shoulder and fish out a canteen, although his movements were still sluggish. He took a few careful sips of water, pausing between each one as if he was testing something. Natsu thought it was kind of weird, but maybe it just went back to how he moved pretty slowly in the heat. Gray replaced the canteen after only a few sips, apparently still worried about conserving their dwindling supply of water.

And just like that, he was gone again.

"It's actually kind of disturbing how he can zone out so completely and not hear anything we're saying unless we mention him by name," Lucy said with a frown, taking in his glazed-over expression.

"And sometimes not even then," Happy added.

Natsu shrugged. "He says it's a heat thing, and he always gets kind of distracted if he's been out in the heat for too long."

"Hm, I bet it's like when you're in a lot of pain and you're so focused on it that you don't pay as much attention to the outside world," Lucy mused.

Natsu winced, not appreciating the comparison even though he knew it was probably accurate.

"Just keep an eye on him," Erza said, studying the unresponsive ice mage as he plodded along mechanically. "He's tough and will probably be fine, but he's starting to worry me."

Lucy and Happy nodded, and Natsu mumbled his halfhearted agreement. It's not that he didn't agree with Erza, but he didn't like to think about it too much because it made him feel bad to realize exactly how miserable he'd made his friend.

"So, when we find this dark guild, what's the plan?" he asked, determined to change the subject.

Erza scowled, instantly distracted. "How should I know? The villagers couldn't tell us much about it, and half our information is of questionable accuracy since it comes from a myth. We'll have to assess the situation when we get there. _If_ we get there."

Nonetheless, Natsu managed to provoke a debate about everything from how powerful the dark guild might be to how big of a problem the infamous amulet was. The team didn't come up with any concrete answers, but bouncing ideas off each other at least passed the time and provided a distraction from everyone's discomfort.

It was a couple hours later when something finally happened. Happy had been tiring out quickly from constantly checking their progress so he hadn't been terribly enthusiastic about repeating the chore once again, but when he flew down a minute later he was suddenly radiating excitement.

"Erza! Let me see the map!"

"Did you find something?" Lucy asked hopefully as Erza dug the map out of her pocket and passed it over to the Exceed.

"I think so," Happy mumbled distractedly as he peered at the paper. "Let me double-check."

Nodding to himself, he jumped back into the air, map in paw. The others waited with bated breath for his verdict; except for Gray, who was still staring blankly at the ground and seemed surprisingly uninterested that Happy may have just found their way out.

"I'll be right back," Happy called down to them. "Let me just fly over to this rock real fast and make sure…"

He was already flying away before he finished speaking, and the others waited in tense silence for his return. A few minutes later, a flash of blue streaked through the air and Happy skidded to a stop in front of them, a wide smile plastered across his face.

"I know where we are!" he said, eyes shining with triumph. "I found one of the landmarks from the map, and when I went there I could even see the next one. We aren't lost anymore!"

That set off a flurry of excitement, and suddenly everyone seemed to be in much better spirits. Aside from Gray, who still seemed singularly unconcerned, although he offered them a strained smile before retreating back into himself. But everyone else became more talkative after that, intensely relieved to be on the right track again.

Happy led them to the rock in question, and they made it past another two markers from the map shortly after high noon hit. Usually they would have stopped to take their afternoon break by now, but everyone was so excited to finally be making progress that it was delayed. At this rate, judging by the map, they should reach the city by the end of the day.

They were just about to reach the next landmark when Natsu heard a slight sound behind him and turned to see that Gray had fallen to his hands and knees and was staring vacantly at the ground.

"Gray!" he yelped, hurrying back a few paces to crouch down in front of his fallen friend. "Are you okay?"

For a moment Gray didn't move and his eyes stayed empty, but then he blinked slowly and shook his head. Smiling wanly at Natsu, he slowly pushed himself to his feet.

"Yeah, I tripped."

"Again?" Natsu asked, shaking his head as he straightened up again. This had to be at least the third or fourth time. "You're awfully clumsy in the desert."

"Seems so," Gray said neutrally, lips tightening.

"I think it's time we take a break," Erza said.

His eyes flashed defensively. "I don't–"

"We should have stopped already," she interrupted, her voice just a little too mild in contrast to the sharpness of her gaze. "It's that time of day again. Why don't we finish walking to the next rock on the map and then take our afternoon break?"

Gray hesitated for a moment before nodding, apparently satisfied with the logic behind that. Despite Erza's solid reasoning, Natsu suspected her main motive was actually her concern for Gray. She must be thinking that he was getting so clumsy now because the heat was wearing him down, and Natsu was inclined to agree with that—he did seem pretty exhausted.

So Natsu didn't complain this time when they settled down in the sparse shade of yet another rocky outcropping. He didn't even bother complaining that they were out of food, even though his stomach was growling loudly and felt like it might be cannibalizing itself. Instead, he just spread out his blanket and curled up to sleep, Happy beside him.

For once, he actually woke up before anyone shook him awake or shoved ice down his shirt. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sleeping, but when he sat up and peered around blearily he noticed that everyone else was still napping. Except for Gray, who was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest as he stared out blankly at the empty sands. Natsu was trying to figure out if he was looking ill and pale underneath his sunburn or if it was just a trick of the light, but apparently he had made enough noise to catch his friend's attention. Gray looked over, shaking his head slowly as if to clear it.

"Up already?" he asked tiredly.

Natsu frowned. "Yeah…You didn't sleep at all, did you? Have you been sleeping lately? Because you always seem to be up early and you're always tired."

Gray shrugged and let his gaze drift away as he dropped his chin back onto his knees. "Sometimes I have trouble sleeping when it's hot," he said mildly.

"So you don't sleep in the afternoons because the heat makes it hard for you to fall asleep?" Natsu suggested. Gray nodded slightly. "So you just sit here and watch us sleep?"

"That makes it sound creepy."

Natsu shrugged unrepentantly. "Well, you did fall asleep that one time a few days ago, when you had that nightmare."

Gray stared at him for a second and then something secretive flashed in his eyes. "Sure," he said. "When I do manage to doze off in the heat, my sleep is usually pretty restless. That's why it's silly of you to keep worrying about these nightmares or whatever."

Natsu guessed that made sense. In that case, there wasn't really any point worrying about Gray's sleep. If it was the heat causing the problem then it shouldn't be an issue at night. Maybe he just seemed tired because of how long he had been stuck out in the heat, rather than because he wasn't actually sleeping.

"Night is cooler, so as long as you're sleeping then, it should be okay."

"Yeah," Gray said, watching him with hooded eyes. "Something like that."

Natsu studied him curiously but then shrugged it off. Glancing around at his sleeping companions, he wondered how long they'd been sleeping.

"Is it almost time to get going again?"

Gray sighed and leaned his head back against the rock behind him. "Sure."

Natsu bit his lip and deflated a little. "I didn't think this job would take so long."

"It's fine." Gray tried to smile in what was probably supposed to be a reassuring fashion, but it was pinched and strained. "It wouldn't have taken so long if we hadn't gotten lost."

"And now we're not lost anymore," Natsu said with determined cheerfulness. "We're almost done and then we can get the hell out of here." Gray nodded. "Well…At least you seem to be doing okay. I mean, it obviously sucks, but you're handling everything better than I thought you would. So at least there's that."

Gray stared at him silently for several long moments, his expression unreadable. Then something darkly amused flickered in his eyes and one corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

"You could say that," he said dryly.

"Sorry, I…Sorry."

Gray tilted his head as if in slow motion and his dark eyes raked over Natsu curiously. "What are you sorry about now?"

"I guess it was kind of a dumb thing to say that you're doing better than I thought when you're obviously so miserable," Natsu muttered, unable to meet his eyes.

"It's alright, flame brain," he said wearily. "Don't worry, I'll get you back later and it'll be horribly satisfying. And I thought I already told you to quit it with the stupid apologizing crap."

Natsu snuck a glance at his friend. He was still kind of amazed that Gray wasn't angrier. If Gray had pulled a stunt like this, Natsu would be furious.

"Yeah…"

Gray shrugged dismissively, balancing one hand against the rocky surface behind him as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. "Well, we might as well wake up the others. It would be good if we could find this city before nightfall."

Natsu nodded, recognizing that the conversation was now over, and helped Gray wake everyone up. They all sipped some water and set out again, eager to reach their destination as quickly as possible. Their pace had definitely quickened in their impatience, although Gray had fallen a little behind. Still, he hadn't complained and was still keeping up, so Natsu figured that he was probably okay. In any case, he definitely wouldn't appreciate being nagged at again. Natsu left him alone.

In fact, Natsu managed to push his worry aside in favor of being cheerful again. Things were going great, after all. They weren't lost, Gray seemed to be doing fine, and soon this whole mess would be behind them. What wasn't there to be happy about?

At the same time, they were all paranoid about getting off track again so Happy was getting more exercise than he had ever wanted in his entire life. It quickly began taking a toll on him, and it was after one of these scouting trips that he fluttered back down wearily and settled on top of Natsu's head. He flopped over lifelessly, head and tail drooping.

"I'm so hot and tired," he muttered, sighing.

"Sorry," Natsu said, reaching up to pat the little feline on the head. Poor Happy was really getting a workout, and all that fur probably wasn't helping any.

"Hey, Happy," Gray said. Natsu turned back to where the ice mage was shuffling along a few paces behind him. "Here."

Grimacing faintly, Gray took a few quick steps forward and made an ice chip for Happy, who gratefully snatched it up.

"Thank you," the Exceed said, letting out a contented sigh.

"Yeah," Gray muttered, wincing slightly. His gaze swept over the other mages. "Anyone else?"

Lucy and Erza immediately accepted the offer, but Natsu shook his head. Gray shrugged and made more ice to give the girls, although his hand gestures were slow and a touch sloppy. Afterwards, he just resumed his silent trudge, eyes unfocused and glassy.

Natsu restrained himself from charging right back to the front of the group, instead matching his pace to Gray's. It wasn't like Gray seemed to mind trailing behind everyone else, but sometimes it made Natsu feel like they were leaving him behind.

As it turned out, it was a good thing that Natsu had done that because not even a few minutes later, Gray paused midstride and swayed for a second before pitching forward. Cursing, Natsu lunged forward and grabbed his arm, tugging him upright again as Happy yelped in surprise and grabbed fistfuls of the dragon slayer's hair so that he wasn't thrown off. Gray leaned heavily against Natsu's shoulder and for a moment he just stared at the ground sightlessly, but then he shook his head slowly and pushed himself away from his friend.

"Clumsy is one thing, but this is getting ridiculous," Natsu said.

"You're telling me," Gray mumbled, his voice slightly slurred. "Sorry."

Natsu frowned at him as he took a few hesitant steps forward and then seemed to fall into his weary stride again. He had written his clumsiness off as being unable to get his footing in the shifting sands, but no one else had had that problem more than once or twice, and Gray himself had never had this kind of problem with sand before. He was obviously hiding something.

Natsu was pretty sure that what Gray wasn't saying was that he was completely exhausted from the heat, which was making him stumble about clumsily at times. Natsu wished he would just come out and say that, but then again, he himself probably wouldn't make a big deal out of it if it was his problem. If Gray wasn't going to take care of it then Natsu would.

"Look," he said carefully, eyeing Gray to gauge his reaction, "maybe we should take another break for a few minutes? It might do you— _us_ —some good."

Gray blinked at him in incomprehension until the words registered in his head, and then scowled. "No."

"It's okay to be worn out," Happy said soothingly. "We're all feeling the effects of the heat."

Gray shook his head, and Natsu sighed.

"I'm sure no one would mind–"

"I'm fine. I can do this."

"Of course you can," Natsu said quickly. "But–"

"We want to get there by nightfall so that we can scout out the dark guild," Gray mumbled. "If we need to take a short break later then fine, but right now we don't need to."

Natsu sighed again. "You're so stubborn."

"So are you."

" _I_ think you're _both_ stubborn fools," Happy muttered.

Natsu and Gray exchanged glances, and for the first time in quite a while, life seemed to spark in the ice mage's eyes as his lips curved upwards. Natsu smiled in return, and they both laughed a little.

"It must be so tiring having to put up with us stubborn fools all the time," Gray murmured in faint amusement, his gaze locking on where Natsu supposed Happy's face would be.

Happy sighed dramatically. "You have _no_ idea."

"Actually, I think we do," Natsu said with a laugh.

Gray nodded but lapsed into silence again, and, with a shrug, Natsu let him be. In any case, the dragon slayer was easily distractible by nature and was soon caught up in the excitement of searching for the map markers again. Every time he or the team spotted one, it felt very satisfying.

Even better, they were making great time and it was still over an hour before sunset when they finally found what they were looking for.

They were trudging up a particularly tall dune, and Natsu grumbled in irritation as the sand shifted underneath his feet and kept threatening to send him sliding back down the face of this sandy monstrosity. This was one of those times when he really did need to concentrate to keep his footing, but he also kept an eye on Gray as well, figuring that if there was ever a time for his new clumsiness to reassert itself, it would be now. Somewhat surprisingly, Gray didn't seem bothered and just trudged up the dune with the same weary grimness that he'd had for most of the day.

The girls reached the top ahead of them and Natsu heard their collective exhale as they paused on the ridge. Curious, he temporarily abandoned Gray to hurry up and see what they found so exciting, only slipping once. He stopped beside Erza and looked out at the sandy plain stretching before them, broken by a few rolling sand dunes and a crumbling city.

Natsu could see why it had given the girls pause—it really was an impressive sight. The buildings weren't fully uncovered, so they literally were rising from the sands. They were massive, etched with complicated designs and occasionally studded with gems, although some of those seemed to have fallen out over the years and the patterns were old and weathered now. The city was made up of a collection of ancient buildings and crisscrossed by a grid of roadways that covered a wide area, but, judging by the very tips of other buildings poking out from the surrounding sands, it must be sprawled over a much vaster area than it appeared at first glance.

Natsu was squinting at it to get a closer look when he spotted a flicker of movement. It was hard to make out the details from here, but he soon realized that he could see a few small figures moving around the abandoned streets. One or two looked like they might be continuing to excavate the rest of the city, shovels in hand.

"Oh crap, we need to get down from here," Erza said, looking around in sudden panic.

"Why?" Happy asked from his perch on Natsu's shoulder.

"Because we're standing on top of the highest sand dune for miles. Do you know how easy we are to spot from here? The dark guild is down in that city. If they look in this direction then they'll see us without any difficulty and we'll lose the element of surprise."

That spurred everyone into a panicked scramble down the other side of the dune. Even Gray picked up his pace, apparently just as eager to get out of the line of sight of the dark guild. Once they reached the bottom, they took a more cautious approach as they crept up on the city and found a nearby dune to set up camp behind. They all dropped their heavy packs in the sand and, since there was still nearly an hour of daylight left, decided to do some reconnaissance.

"Make sure you stay out of sight," Erza instructed them. "We'll want to start our assault tomorrow morning before it gets too hot, and we do _not_ want to engage them tonight. Tonight we're only gathering information. Got that, Natsu?"

She gave Natsu a hard look and he nodded vigorously, even though if it was up to him, they'd just go charging into the city right now and take care of the dark guild, no extra scouting required. Although maybe it would be better to rest tonight since they were still exhausted after a long day of trekking… Nah, Natsu wanted to just get it over with.

"Good." Erza let her focus expand to include the entire team again. "We want to know a few things. There should be eight villagers down there and at least thirteen or fourteen enemy mages. Keep a lookout to make sure that the numbers add up, and see if you can make a better guess of how many opponents we'll be facing. Also, if you get close enough, try to gauge how powerful they might be.

"If you see any sign of this mysterious amulet then make note of that too, and it might be useful if we can locate the temple the escaped villager mentioned. We were lost for so long that it's likely the guild managed to break through the protective enchantments by now, but it wouldn't hurt to double-check. Get a feel for the layout of the city. The enemy will have a home-field advantage because they're already familiar with the area. If you can figure out where they keep supplies, where they congregate, where they eat and sleep, that could be useful as well.

"Don't actually go into the city though. Stay outside and hidden behind sand dunes and rocks and things. We don't know what magics we might be going up against yet or how powerful our opponents are, so be careful. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads silently, instantly deferring to her while she was in leader mode.

"Good," Erza said in satisfaction. "Lucy, you can come with me as one team. Natsu and Happy can be another. Gray…I guess you can go with whoever you want."

"I'll go solo."

Natsu frowned at him. "You can come with me and Happy," he offered.

"Nah, it's fine," Gray muttered, shaking his head. "We can cover more ground this way."

"Well, Natsu and Happy can walk around to the far side of the city," Erza said. "Lucy and I will go around the right side, and Gray can take the leftmost side."

With that, Erza and Lucy took off, stealthily sneaking around one side of the city under the cover of a low, sandy ridge.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at Gray. "We've got to walk all the way around to the back. Want to walk with us partway?"

Gray shrugged and followed Natsu and Happy as they headed around the city on the opposite side. They walked in silence for several minutes before Gray paused.

"I think I'll leave you here," he said, peering around the side of a rock at the ruined city. "This is about halfway, I think, and I can walk up and down this perimeter."

"Okay." Natsu hesitated. "Are you sure you don't want to stick together?"

Gray tilted his head to study him curiously for a moment. "I'll be fine."

"I know," he agreed hurriedly. "But I mean, if you'd rather not do it alone…"

"Good grief, just go do your job already," Gray said, shaking his head in amused exasperation although there was no heat in his words.

Natsu smiled sheepishly. "Alright."

He and Happy left Gray there and continued on without him.

"Are you really that worried the heat might affect his ability to take care of himself?" Happy asked once they were out of earshot of Gray.

Natsu sighed and shook his head. "Yes…No…It's more like… Well, he seems to get left on his own a lot, doesn't he? The odd one out? Usually you and I team up and then the girls pair up a lot, and we just tell him to decide who he wants to go with or do it on his own. Like now, or even back in town when we were looking for our guide. And he's been keeping to himself this whole time in the desert too, and we've just started leaving him alone. I don't know. I thought that maybe he might like to be included more."

Happy stared at him for a few seconds and then a sly grin spread across his face. "Aw, you _do_ care."

"Shut up."

"You _do_."

"Of course I do," Natsu mumbled, looking away in embarrassment.

Happy laughed quietly. "I'm sure it's fine. I don't think he minds, because he still knows that we care about him. Besides, he gets included in almost everything anyway."

"I know," Natsu said with a sigh. "It's just… If it ever _did_ bother him then you know he would never say anything."

"That's true," Happy agreed, nodding solemnly. "It's good that you're taking his feelings into consideration, but I think he's doing just fine right now. And we should be focusing on our job."

Natsu couldn't really disagree with that, so he dropped the subject. For the next forty minutes or so until the daylight faded, he and Happy prowled the edge of the city and gathered information about the dark guild. They could really only do so much when they weren't actually allowed to go into the city, but they did find a few things. For one, they'd counted eight individual dark mages and seen three of the trapped villagers. They didn't see the temple, but they did find one of the old buildings that the guild was keeping supplies in. Natsu even crept closer to the city than he probably should have in an attempt to get a reading on how powerful the enemy mages were, but got somewhat confusing results.

Once the light started fading in earnest, the two friends decided to call it quits and head back to basecamp. They looked for Gray on the way back, but didn't see him. Assuming that he'd gone on ahead of them, they brushed it off and returned to the campsite, where Erza and Lucy were already waiting. No one wanted to share their findings until everyone was present, so they elected to wait for Gray to show up.

But dusk melted into pitch darkness with no sign of him, and they were starting to debate sending someone after him when he finally stumbled back into camp.

"Oh thank goodness!" Lucy exclaimed, spotting Gray as he slowly made his way into the circle of light cast from the small fire Natsu had decided to risk making. "We were worried!"

"Sorry I'm late," he mumbled, dropping to the ground unceremoniously to sit cross-legged next to Erza. Apparently eager to change the subject, he added, "So, what did everyone find?"

From the things they had seen and the snippets of conversation they had overheard, the team began piecing their information together. Comparing descriptions of the different enemy mages and villagers, they concluded that they had seen fourteen mages and all eight villagers between them. Erza and Lucy had found the temple, although they confirmed that whatever enchantments had been on it were now broken. In that case, it was safe to assume that the amulet was already in enemy hands, begging the question of why the dark guild was still here and hadn't yet disappeared. Gray had seen a man matching the escapee's description of the dark guild's leader and noted that the man was wearing something around his neck that was tucked away underneath his shirt, which very well might be the infamous amulet.

"Okay, so I tried to get a reading on these guys' magic, but it was…weird," Natsu said finally. "Like, I could barely sense any magic coming off of them at all? And usually when I sensed something, it seemed to come from their enchanted weapons."

"Yes." Erza allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction. "It turns out that we aren't facing a dark guild at all. These people are actually from an offshoot of Sylph Labyrinth."

Gray nodded to himself. "Ah, I was right then. It _is_ a treasure hunting guild."

Everyone looked at him with almost identical frowns.

"Wait, you thought it was a treasure hunting guild?" Happy asked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Gray stared at them blankly for a moment and then frowned, his brow wrinkling in concentration as he searched his memory. "I didn't?" he asked slowly, faint surprise coloring his voice. "Huh, I thought I did."

Natsu sighed and shook his head. Gray's brain didn't seem to work so well in the heat.

"I guess that explains some things though," Lucy said. "They probably came here seeking out the legendary amulet as a 'treasure', and once they found it they didn't leave because they're still looting the city."

Happy and Erza nodded in agreement, although Natsu's mind was already on a different track.

"Well, at least this shouldn't be too tough of a fight then," the dragon slayer said optimistically.

"It shouldn't be as tough as if we were facing a dark guild, but don't underestimate them," Erza cautioned. "They won't use magic, but they'll be skilled combat fighters with powerful weapons. Plus, they probably have this amulet and we don't know how dangerous it might be. And, let's be honest, we've been wandering in the desert for days now on severe rationing. We aren't exactly at full strength right now."

Natsu scowled as that reminded him of the worst part of his current predicament. "I can't believe all the food is gone," he complained.

As if on cue, his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten anything since their meager breakfast, and he was starving. Walking all day without food had sucked and he hated skipping meals.

He yelped in surprise as something came flying through the air and whacked him in the face. Grabbing the bag, he stared at it uncomprehendingly for a minute before looking up at Gray.

"What is this?" he asked slowly.

Gray shrugged. "Food."

"Yes, I _know_ that," Natsu snapped, waving the baggie of food in the air, "but why do you have it? I thought we finished off all the food this morning?"

Gray shrugged again. "The heat kills my appetite. That's what's left of my rations. You guys can split it for dinner, and tomorrow we can just take some of the extra supplies from the city when we've finished with Sylph Labyrinth."

"You haven't been eating?" Erza demanded.

"Sure, I've been eating," Gray said, watching her with wary eyes. "Just not as much as the rest of you."

"You complete and total _idiot_ ," Natsu ground out. "We've been wandering around the desert for days! You didn't think you might need to keep your strength up?"

"I did just fine," Gray muttered defensively, hunching his shoulders as he stared moodily into the fire. "Besides, it's not like you can really do anything about it now, can you? You might as well eat the food. Nothing else we can do with it now."

Since that was technically true, Natsu and the others reluctantly split up the extra food for dinner, although they took turns lecturing Gray for several more minutes. The ice mage just stayed quiet and withdrawn as he tuned them out. Erza told him in no uncertain terms that he _would_ be eating tonight and would most certainly be eating _everything_ that she gave him. So he took the food she forced on him and picked at it a bit, eating it slowly and taking breaks in between bites. He was still nibbling at it unenthusiastically long after the others had finished.

"For the love of…Gray, just eat your food already!" Erza exclaimed finally, exasperated.

Gray grimaced but obeyed, his face twisting in an almost nauseous expression for a moment as he choked down the remainder of his meal. But then again, he smoothed it out quickly enough that Natsu might have imagined it.

"Good," Erza said approvingly, before turning to address the team as a whole. "I think it's best if we all turn in now and try to get as much rest as possible. We'll take care of the treasure hunters in the morning. Alright?"

"Alright," everyone chorused.

They were all so tired out from their long ordeal that they curled up in their bedrolls without complaint, too exhausted to mind the frigid cold or faint coyote howls in the distance. Natsu was so excited and wound up about the upcoming battle that he wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep, but he had underestimated his own tiredness. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, content to dream of what would undoubtedly be a resounding victory.

* * *

 **Note: Yeah, it was going to have to be treasure hunters because I don't think Gray is really in a state to be fighting dark mages. To be fair, this shouldn't be a huge surprise because I dropped a lot of hints and Gray himself mentioned the possibility way back in chapter...2? And wow, what great misinterpretations of Gray's symptoms lol Plus yeah, Natsu might be feeling a little bad at this point, hence his behavior.**

 **Sorry, this chapter didn't have a whole lot. More of those pacing issues I was talking about. It's hard when all the good stuff at this point of the story needs to be in Gray's POV but I need a chapter for Natsu thrown in there somewhere XD The next two chapters are the main climactic chapters, and 10 was the one I was most looking forward to writing from the very beginning. It should be fun :3**

 **By the way, I may have gotten a little lazy about replying to reviews, but I'll try to get back on that. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing; I appreciate them all : )**

 **emmahoshi: The descriptor is more snarky on the part of me, the author, than of Natsu or the story lol Yeah, I double-checked the cactus thing. I actually did a lot of research on deserts for this story lol I originally included a lot of it but then cut it out while editing so that it didn't bog everything down. Ha, okay, I never technically said that they _were_ treasure hunters, but you know me and my foreshadowing. I always drop hints way ahead of time, and there were several times towards the beginning when it was mentioned that Gray was suspicious of the dark guild, and he mentions the possibility way back on that train ride XD It doesn't mean your memory is horrible, just that you missed or forgot most of the foreshadowing. Which is pretty normal—all of you guys tend to miss most of it because I usually try to be subtle about it. And the city is still out in the desert with no A/C and just crumbling buildings, plus the team isn't actually _staying_ there, just fighting the treasure hunters. So no, it's not really going to help XD**


	10. The team finally completes the job

**Note: This is kind of a long chapter because lots of stuff happens. Also, I hate writing fight scenes, which is why I sort of glossed over them a bit XD**

 **Ha ha, you all make me laugh with how frustrated you're getting with Gray and the team :3 Stubborn, oblivious idiots, the lot of them. (Also, Deboo, that "booking" thing made me laugh way too much. Thanks, I needed that XD)**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 _(In which the team finally completes the job, but it comes with a price.)_

* * *

Gray was in over his head and he knew it. His brain might be fried, but he wasn't completely stupid.

He crouched behind a low ridge of sand, motionless, watching the half-buried city absently. The rest of the team should be getting into position soon, but for now he could just sit here and reflect on what a poor decision he had made. His mind had been so hazy for the past few days—and still was, really—that he might have made a severe miscalculation. He hadn't wanted to lose Natsu's challenge or fail another desert job, so he had focused on keeping his head down and hiding his physical and mental deterioration from his friends.

That was all well and good, but now, sitting here on the brink of what could be a very dangerous battle, Gray realized that he was in no shape to be fighting. He was so weak that he wouldn't last half a minute in a physical brawl, he wasn't thinking clearly, he had a pounding headache and was nauseous and kept passing out, and his magic certainly wasn't at full strength. It was his magic that worried him the most at this point. He'd made a few ice cubes the day before and had promptly passed out on Natsu. If he couldn't even summon an ice cube without fainting, what chance did he have in a fight?

Gray had his reasons for not telling the team about his problems, but he suddenly wished that he had thought to draw a line when it came to today. It wasn't fair to his friends. They thought that he was battle-ready and he _wasn't_. They were relying on him, and there was every chance that he might fail. It was honestly dangerous for everyone involved.

Well, it was too late to do anything now. The rational part of his mind whispered that if he hurried he might be able to catch Erza before they started their assault so that at least she'd be aware that they couldn't really rely on him, but the heat-addled part shut that thought down almost as soon as it had formed. He wouldn't— _couldn't_ —let his friends down. He couldn't let them get hurt because of his weakness. He'd throw everything he had into this fight to make sure of it.

The chances of him messing something up were pretty high though. He already was, really, because he wasn't very clear on what exactly he was supposed to be doing. He really should have paid closer attention to all the strategizing they'd done this morning, but it was just so hard for him to focus on anything for more than a few seconds when his head was so screwed up. It probably hadn't helped that he'd spent half the night violently ill after the dinner fiasco. And he'd been pretty out of sorts earlier as well, when they had been scouting out the city. He hadn't wanted to go with Natsu and Happy because he didn't want them around if he passed out or started dry heaving again. Good thing too, because he'd done both, as well as seen one hell of a vivid hallucination, which all combined to make him late for their rendezvous at the campsite.

So maybe it wasn't that surprising that he'd had a hard time paying attention, but he could already tell that it would cause problems. Luckily, he knew some of it, namely that the point of everyone splitting up was to surround the treasure hunters. There was supposed to be some kind of signal to start the attack once Natsu was in position at the far end of the city, but Gray couldn't remember what it was for the life of him. After that, they each had their own jobs to do.

First of all, they wanted to evacuate the villagers to the edge of the city where they'd be out of the crossfire and couldn't be used as hostages. Happy had done a quick scouting mission this morning and reported that there were two main excavation sites currently being worked on. Lucy and Happy were in position by the more heavily guarded one and were in charge of getting all those villagers to the spot the team had designated.

Gray was supposed to evacuate the other one. He may or may not have gotten the easiest job because Erza was reluctant to put him in the more dangerous situations right now. She may have also mentioned that she'd specifically placed herself nearby so that he could easily get her attention if he needed help, but he'd missed most of that lecture too.

After Gray, Lucy, and Happy finished their tasks, they were to rejoin Erza and Natsu for the fight. The requip mage and dragon slayer were positioned at opposite ends of the city and would be providing a distraction to cover the evacuation by picking off the small fry. The tentative plan was to try pushing the remaining treasure hunters into the big plaza at the center of the city, for reasons Gray couldn't quite think of at the moment.

He was unclear on whether the plan actually went beyond that. He knew there had been some discussion about the amulet, but the reigning consensus had been that they'd improvise when they came to it since they still had no idea what it could do. Or maybe there _had_ been a plan and he had just missed it while he was zoning out. There may or may not have been a scheme for how to handle the leader too. Gray wasn't sure.

Since his knowledge had so many holes eaten into it, it was inevitable that he would screw something up. He took solace in the fact that Natsu would probably mess things up too since he was notoriously bad at following plans.

Gray rubbed at his forehead, wishing the throbbing would stop, and let his thoughts drift. He didn't know what was taking Natsu so long, but the longer he had to wait, the harder it became to focus. He kept catching himself zoning out, and pulling himself back to the present again was difficult.

He gradually became aware of a great racket in the city. Shaking his head to clear it, he leaned forward and held up a hand to shade his eyes as he squinted at the ruins. He could see spirals of flame shooting through the streets and setting the city ablaze, and shouts rang in his ears. It took him a moment to realize what had happened, but then he cursed and stumbled to his feet. Whatever the signal had been, he had missed it altogether. The attack had already started and he was late. He'd managed to screw things up before they'd even started.

Well, he wouldn't fall apart until this fight was over—he'd hold himself together with sheer determination if he couldn't do it with actual strength. His feet were heavy and leaden and every step was a fight, but he started into the city anyway, ducking in between old, crumbling buildings still half-buried in sand.

Thankfully his target was close by. Sand was drifted on the structure like snow and several shovels were lying abandoned nearby, presumably because work had stopped once the treasure hunters realized they were under attack. Three dark-skinned villagers were huddled in front, watching with wary eyes as their captors yelled and gesticulated wildly. Gray winced automatically and tried to tune them out. Their shouting was sending stabbing pains through his head and making it hard to concentrate on their words even if he wanted to.

Still, he forced himself to focus long enough to assess the situation. Happy's reconnaissance mission had suggested that there should be three villagers here, so that added up. Luckily there were only two opponents. Hopefully he could handle that. Normally he wasn't one for attacking people from behind, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Reaching out to his magic and grimacing at how weak it felt, he clumsily folded his hands into the proper position and a giant hammer of ice crashed down onto one of the treasure hunters. The man immediately dropped to the ground and remained motionless, but Gray wasn't exactly satisfied.

His molding had been terrible. The ice was brittle and shimmered wetly at the edges as if it was starting to melt, and as soon as it hit its target, a crack split its surface and it shattered into pieces. Wow. He had never performed such pathetic molding in his life. Good thing Lyon wasn't here to see it, because he'd never let him live it down.

The other man started yelling and pulled an impressive-looking whip from his belt, and Gray realized that his thoughts had been wandering again. He barely managed to leap out of the way as the whip hurtled past him, and he staggered slightly as he tried to regain his footing. Before he had time to launch an attack of his own, the whip changed direction midflight and shot towards him like a guided missile, wrapping around him and pulling him to the ground. Gray grunted in pain as he fell and felt the whip slash through his shirt and into his skin.

Of course. Treasure hunters had enchanted weapons. Apparently this whip was going to be damn hard to dodge. Funny, since Gray had always thought they were kind of lame. But then again, Lucy used one occasionally so maybe he shouldn't–

He cut himself off with a sharp shake of his head. Focus.

"Wow, I thought mages would be stronger than this," the treasure hunter sneered.

Gray didn't bother responding; it took all his concentration just to mold a knife to saw through the whip that was currently tightening around his chest and making it difficult to breathe. When it finally fell into two uneven pieces, it immediately retracted and tied itself back together. Magic indestructible whip with missile guidance and the ability to squeeze the life out of people like a boa constrictor. Fantastic.

Normally he would just mold a sword and get it over with, but he wasn't in any shape for that kind of hand-to-hand combat right now. He tried molding something else, but his movements were too sluggish and the whip lashed out lightning-quick to open a gash on his arm.

As he untangled himself from the infuriating thing once more, he noticed the villagers beginning to creep away out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't go anywhere yet," he said, although he didn't have time to make sure that they'd listened to him since the whip was coming at him again.

After garnering a few more injuries, he gave up on molding entirely. Instead, he lashed out with his magic blindly, a formless wave of ice crashing into his opponent and cutting off his startled cry. Gray stared blankly at the man trapped beneath the ice for a moment until he was sure he wasn't getting back up. Damn, how humiliating.

Dragging himself out of his stupor, he stumbled around to see that the villagers were staring at him apprehensively.

"My friends and I are here to rescue you," he said, his voice rough and scratchy. "Your village asked us for help. We're going to take care of these guys and then bring you home, alright?"

He really hoped that at least one of them could understand him. It seemed like most of the villagers could on at least a rudimentary level, but it would be just his luck to get stuck with the only three that didn't understand a word he was saying. Thankfully, the villagers nodded and relaxed slightly.

"What is plan?" one asked.

"We're going to take you somewhere out of harm's way. Come on."

Not wanting to waste any time, Gray began hurrying down the street as quickly as his injuries and exhaustion would allow, the villagers trailing behind him. When he sensed his thoughts beginning to wander, he quickly decided on a new strategy to stay focused. He needed to stay alert in case they ran across any more treasure hunters, so he tried to make himself pay attention by mining for information.

"Your captors managed to get the amulet by now, right?" he asked. One of the villagers nodded. "Have you seen what it can do?"

"No. The god's spell book was inside temple as well and leader needs to read it in order to use amulet properly, but it is in the ancient language. They are forcing our…ah, she is like our healer and village elder. They are forcing her to translate the text. She does not know much of lost language, but it shares some basics with our own so she can make guesses. She has been going very slowly, so amulet has not been used yet."

"Good," Gray mumbled. Hopefully that meant that the amulet would be useless in this fight.

He tried to think of any other useful questions to ask, but his brain was too fuzzy to come up with any. Instead, he focused on leading the villagers through the streets and keeping an eye out for approaching enemies. By some miracle of fate they made it through the city unmolested and reached the meeting point fairly quickly.

Lucy and Happy were already there, along with four men ranging in age from teenager to middle-aged and an elderly woman. They were inside the building, Lucy and Happy peering worriedly out of the open doorway as they scanned the street. Gray wondered how long they had been waiting for him since he had gotten a late start and been ridiculously slow.

"Gray! You made it!" Lucy exclaimed in relief, her eyes lighting up when she spotted him.

"Yeah," he muttered, ushering his charges into the building. "Sorry it took so long."

"It's fine," Happy reassured him.

Lucy nodded. "Hey, I was thinking that I should probably stay here because these guys can't really defend themselves and they could use some protection in case the treasure hunters stumble across them."

Gray tilted his head as he considered the suggestion. It was a good one. He might have thought of it too, if his brain wasn't mush.

"Good idea. Are you staying too, Happy? Or going to find Natsu?"

"I'll come with you until I find Natsu."

The team exchanged brief parting waves and then Gray and Happy hurried off. They hadn't made it far when an inferno exploded a few streets away, flames spiraling into the sky. Happy immediately honed in on it.

"Go ahead," Gray told him.

"Good luck, Gray."

"You too."

Happy took off, hurtling towards the spot Natsu must be. Gray moved slower, heading in that general direction as well. He could hear a lot of chaos coming from up ahead, so he assumed that Natsu and Erza must have dragged the fight to the plaza already. He jumped a few streets over so that he'd come out at a different point of the plaza, and a few minutes later he found himself standing at the very edge of a battlefield.

Pausing at the perimeter of the square, he took in the carnage. Fallen treasure hunters lay scattered about, while Erza, Natsu, and Happy were whirling about fighting the ones that were still on their feet. Gray sighed and steeled himself to join the melee, but a slight movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

It wasn't a hallucination this time, thankfully. It was a man, tall and lanky with shaggy brown hair and piercing green eyes. He was lurking in the shadow of an empty doorway, a scowl plastered on his face as he squinted at the book in his hands and occasionally grumbled in frustration or glanced at the glittering ruby balanced on the open pages. And this would be the leader. By the looks of it, he was trying to decipher something in the book so that he could use the amulet, although it didn't look like he was having much luck.

Gray crept closer, keeping to the shadows, and tentatively searched out the amulet's magical aura. It was surprisingly weak, but there was perhaps something lurking underneath the surface. On the bright side, it definitely didn't contain a demon—it wasn't powerful enough and didn't have a demonic presence in it. And the book was open, which should have released a demon if it was one of Zeref's.

In line with his newly acquired clumsiness, Gray stumbled over a bit of half-exposed stone and lost his balance, windmilling his arms for a moment to stay upright. The treasure hunter's head whipped up and his eyes locked on Gray. Shit. Leaders were usually among the most powerful members of their guild, and right now Gray was the weakest member of his. What the hell had he been thinking? He should have let Natsu or Erza handle this guy.

"Goddamn Fairy Tail scum," the treasure hunter growled, snapping the book shut and tossing it aside carelessly. "Damn village bitch was too lazy to translate everything, but after I kill you and your companions I'll start chopping off fingers until she decides that she wants to cooperate."

Gray's eyes narrowed. What a piece of work.

"You don't have a whole lot of respect for other people, do you?" he asked dryly. "Well, good luck trying. So far your men and their silly weapons haven't been able to stand up to my friends, and you haven't been able to get your fancy amulet to work. You don't stand a chance."

"We'll see," the other man snapped, replacing the amulet around his neck.

Despite his confident words, Gray was under no illusions here. His molding was shot, his magic was running out, and he was already injured and weak. His only chance was to end this quickly—strike hard and fast so that his opponent didn't have an opportunity to do any real damage.

The treasure hunter drew a sword that was undoubtedly enchanted and Gray lashed out with his magic, having no desire to see what nasty spells the weapon had been imbued with. He didn't know what this sword did, but it must be doing something because occasionally he'd feel something slash across his skin even though the weapon was nowhere near him.

As his opponent forced him to back up slowly into the plaza, he hoped that his friends were too distracted with their own fights to really notice his because they would definitely see that something was off. The lack of real molding would be a dead giveaway. His magic was sloppier and weaker than usual, but it was still powerful enough to take out one lousy treasure hunter and his irritating sword. When the dueling pair got closer to the middle of the square, Gray had finally had enough and took his stand, planting his feet firmly and refusing to budge. It was time to end this before he got too weak to.

Gathering up his magic, he threw it at the leader of the treasure hunters and smiled faintly in satisfaction as jagged spikes of ice shot up all around his opponent and sent him sprawling, the troublesome sword flying out of his hand. It wasn't molding, but it was still powerful enough to do the trick.

Then Gray noticed the condensation forming on his ice and trickling down the crystalline surfaces. Regardless of how hot the desert was, his ice was magicked and didn't melt unless he wanted it to. _Shouldn't_ melt unless he wanted it to. Even without touching it, he could see how brittle it was, hairline cracks already forming in its surface. When he didn't move to reinforce it, it crumbled to pieces.

He scowled at it for a moment before shaking his head. Well, it didn't matter anymore.

He started towards his defeated foe, wincing as the movement irritated his injuries. He should probably do something about those. Usually he'd ice them over, but with the state of his magic right now… Well, he'd take care of it after he got the amulet from this guy. It shouldn't be dangerous, but they would need to confiscate it anyway.

"Give me the amulet," he said tiredly as he approached the man lying prone on the sandy stone. He just wanted to get this over with already so that they could get the hell out of here.

"No!" the treasure hunter snarled, fighting his way to his feet and swaying drunkenly. Gray paused and watched him wearily, not too concerned yet. The man was obviously done—he could barely even stand. "Do you know how hard I worked to get this? How much time and effort…?"

Gray could feel his attention wandering, his brain tuning out from the other man's raving. God, his head was killing him. He forced himself to focus again. He needed to take care of this before he slipped up and did something stupid.

"…and I'll die before I give this to you!" the treasure hunter was saying passionately, his frenzied voice rising in volume and cutting through the surrounding din of the battlefield. Taking off the amulet, he raised it into the air with one hand and struck a dramatic pose.

Gray rolled his eyes and started forward again, tiring of the idiotic posturing. He hadn't even realized that he'd managed to tune out the pompous fool's words again until something he said snapped him back to reality.

"…and even if I can't harness its power with the spells, I can still unleash it anyway!"

Gray stared at him, wondering if that was even possible. "That would be a stupid thing to do. If it really was that powerful and you couldn't control it properly, it would be just as likely to injure you and your guild."

Not that he was entirely sure if this amulet was powerful enough to do a lot of damage, but the principle stood. Besides, he'd rather not deal with any unnecessary complications.

"You've left me no other option," the treasure hunter declared. "This is a last resort."

He closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating on something. Gray had no idea what he thought he was doing, but something was definitely happening. The ruby seemed to start glowing from the inside, reddish-tinged light seeping out from the crack running down the center of its face. He could feel the power leaking out of it as well, growing stronger by the second, and realized that he had grossly underestimated the strength of the amulet's magic.

Cursing, he forced himself forward as quickly as his leaden feet would take him, but he didn't make it in time. The treasure hunter suddenly yelped in pain and dropped the glowing amulet to the ground, wincing and waving his hand around as if it had been burned. Which wouldn't really be surprising since the air around the amulet seemed to be superheating as it crackled with power, making Gray's head swim.

The crack in the ruby started widening and a network of finer cracks began appearing, radiating out from the original fissure. Power was leaking out from each one, building up in the air around them, and Gray realized what was about to happen a second before all hell broke loose. The village leader had warned them that the amulet's magic was unstable, and this stupid man had just tried to release it all in one fell swoop instead of using the precision of formulated spells to channel it a little at a time in a controlled fashion. The amulet contained a lot more power than Gray had expected it to, and it was about to lash out all at once.

"Shit!" He lunged towards the disintegrating amulet, his hands desperately folding into familiar gestures as he prayed that he could make his molding work one last time. "You fool! Do you have any idea what you've done?"

The leader of the treasure hunters no longer looked triumphant. The satisfaction on his face had morphed into uncertainty and something like horror as he stared at the pulsing gem and backed away slowly, clutching his injured hand. Unsurprisingly, he had apparently been bluffing when he had said that he was willing to die for this.

Gray breathed a sigh of relief as his magic responded to his call, forming a small dome overtop the short-circuiting amulet. It wasn't a moment too soon. The ruby exploded, unleashing a powerful wave of magic that slammed into the sides of its icy prison. Gray cried out and stumbled back a half-step. He shouldn't be able to feel the effects of the magic while it was contained, but it was like he could feel the heat and wind and sand scouring his insides, attacking him with the same ferocity that it scratched at his ice.

He stared at the icy dome as if entranced, watching as a jagged crack began forming, moving down the side of the structure in a series of sharp snaps and leaps, spiderwebbing out to work its way across the surface. It was too powerful, this monstrous magic, and Gray was too weak right now. His magic didn't stand a chance.

He looked over the top of the failing dome at the treasure hunter standing across from him. "I suggest you run," he said flatly.

The man said nothing, but turned to disappear down a street leading away from the plaza. Gray didn't have time to worry about him. Taking a few steps backwards, he conjured up another dome, bigger and stronger this time. The only thing he could do now was try to contain the magic for as long as possible so that everyone had a chance to escape. The amulet only had so much magic and it would burn itself out eventually. The question was whether or not Gray could hold it off for long enough. The prognosis wasn't looking good.

His original makeshift shield shattered in a hail of ice shards. He could feel the howling whirlwind of foreign magic slamming into his new one, and sucked in a sharp breath as he winced against the impossible pain.

He turned, his eyes seeking out his friends. All fighting had ground to a halt as mages and treasure hunters alike stared at the ice that was the only fragile barrier between them and a maelstrom of fearsome magic.

"Everyone needs to get out of the city," Gray said, amazed at how calm he sounded despite the pain shooting through him and the strain of holding on to his magic. "I can't hold this forever—it's too powerful. Hopefully I can contain it long enough for it to weaken, but I don't know how far it will spread when the ice fails. Better to get out of the city entirely."

The treasure hunters were already turning tail to flee, and Gray could only hope that they'd keep an eye out for their comrades that were still lying beaten all around the city. The Fairy Tail mages, on the other hand, didn't move immediately.

"That magic is much more powerful than I expected it to be," Erza said, her eyes fixed on the clouded ice and the visible whirlwind within. "How long do you think you can hold the shield, Gray?"

Gray opened his mouth to reply, but paused when he picked up a soft creaking sound from behind him. Turning, he noticed the thinnest of hairline cracks beginning to form in the ice and let out his breath in a hiss of pain as something inside himself also threatened to snap. The shield might look impressive from the outside, but he could see how it was weak and brittle, unwanted moisture beading its surface as it started to buckle under the pressure.

Stepping towards it, he placed his hands against its surface and pushed more magic into the ice, sealing over the cracks. He hesitantly dropped his hands, but immediately replaced them when another fissure began forming. It was no use. The only way he could maintain the shield for any length of time would be to stand here and continuously channel magic into it.

"I don't know," he said tightly, not looking at the others. "Not very long. You need to evacuate the city as quickly as possible. Get Lucy and the villagers out, and if you see any treasure hunters along the way then bring them along too. And _hurry_."

"Yeah, let's hurry up before we get hit with all that magic," Happy said with a shudder.

Gray could hear footsteps heading away from him, but then they paused.

"Come on, ice princess," Natsu said impatiently. "Aren't we supposed to be hurrying?"

"You guys go on ahead," Gray replied, glancing back to give them what he hoped was a reassuring look. "I'll catch up to you."

"Gray, we don't have time for this," Erza said, sighing.

"Come _on_ ," Natsu repeated. "Let's go."

"I can't," Gray said quietly, turning away to rest his forehead against the brittle shield that was being held together only by a steady stream of magic and a hell of a lot of determination. "You need to go."

"Gray–"

"I have to be here to maintain the shield. I'll catch up to you later."

That was almost surely a lie, even if he didn't want to admit it. He would have to stay here until the very last second. Even if he wasn't weak and injured, even if he wouldn't have poured out every last drop of magic into his shield, he still wouldn't have enough time to escape. His only chance was to outlast the amulet, and that wasn't looking likely at this point.

"Just leave the shield and come on," Erza said, not understanding the problem. "You leave these things all the time. The magic is already up."

"I _can't_ ," he repeated, his voice brittle. "It's too strong. You need to go _now_. You need time to get Lucy and the villagers and get the hell out of here." He let out a shaky breath. " _Please_."

For a moment, no one said anything. Gray wished that they would just go already, because they were wasting precious seconds.

"You're wasting time," he added. "Everyone needs to be out of here when I lose control of this thing."

"I sure hope that you have a plan," Erza said finally, her voice subdued.

A plan. Right. Sure, Gray had a plan: hold on for as long as possible and try not to die. Not exactly a great plan, but it would have to do.

"Yes," he said firmly.

"I could stay with you," Natsu offered.

"No. Do you know how many injured treasure hunters are lying around? They're going to need help getting out of here."

"But we can't just leave–"

Gray half turned and locked eyes with Happy. "Make sure he gets out of here. And don't let him come back."

Happy didn't look pleased, instead wringing his paws together as he stared back with frightened, worried eyes. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Of course," Gray said, forcing a smile. "Happy, please."

Happy hesitated a moment longer before nodding. "Okay," he whispered.

"I don't–" Natsu started, his eyes flashing defiantly.

"Natsu, we need to get everyone out," Erza interrupted. "We're just going to have to trust Gray to take care of himself right now."

"But–"

" _Go_ ," Gray growled, turning back to his patchwork shield. "You're wasting time that you could be using to get Lucy and the others out of here."

There was a long pause.

"Ice block, you had better come back."

Gray's fingers automatically slid across the ice to bunch together, claw-like, their tips pressing against the shield's surface as hard as they could. God, he hated lying.

"Go," he said instead.

After a second's hesitation, his friends finally left to evacuate the city and Gray hoped that they would hurry. Once he was sure they were gone, he let out a shuddering breath and rested his forehead against the ice again, shoulders slumping.

Time passed in a hazy, painful blur and Gray had no idea how long he'd been holding the magic at bay, no idea if there had been enough time for everyone to get out. It was mostly the pain that screwed with his sense of time. There was still that strange echo of foreign magic bouncing around his body, slicing through him with each attack on his protective ice. But it was the draining of his magic that hurt the most. It seeped out of him steadily as he poured it into the shield, leaving him empty and aching with a hollowness that only the heat and pain could fill. He tried to ignore the shallowness of his breaths and the way they hitched with the pain, the pounding in his head, the darkness eating away at the edges of his vision. He couldn't afford to admit to his weakness, to give up.

He clung to his determination with everything he had left, but then, finally, he felt the end coming as he wrung out the very last drop of his magic. As the last trickle ran through his fingertips and slid into the weakening shield, Gray let his hands drop away from the ice and stumbled backwards a few steps, watching the dome dully as it weakened.

He should probably try to get as far away from this thing as possible before it exploded or at least look for some kind of cover to take the brunt of what was coming, but he had nothing left to give. Nothing left to give to his shield or to his friends, and certainly nothing left to give to himself. He was so empty and weak that he could barely even stay upright. So although he took a few more slow steps back, he kept his eyes fixed on the cracking ice and swayed on his feet and didn't run.

A loud crack rang through the air like a gunshot. Gray thought numbly that it should be loud enough to give the others some warning of what was about to happen. He hoped they were far enough away to be safe, but he'd already done all he could. The rest was up to them. He watched impassively as a deep fissure split the side of the dome and turned into a network of smaller cracks that spread across the rest of the curved surface, ignoring the accompanying pain that started in his chest and then stabbed through the rest of his body.

For a moment a fragile peace lingered over the area, the calm before the storm, but then the magical time bomb exploded. Gray was thrown through the air like a ragdoll as a howling tempest of burning wind and sand hurtled into him. The jagged remains of his own shield sliced painfully across his skin and he slammed into something hard, his head smashing into stone with a resounding crack. As if it wasn't already hard enough to stay conscious.

This honestly seemed more like a giant sandstorm than anything else, powerful whirlwinds picking up sand and whipping it through the air, raking its burning claws against anything it came up against. The wind hurt, but it was the sand that was the problem. It scraped against his skin, leaving it red and raw as if he'd taken sandpaper to it, and worked its way into his mouth and down his throat, leaving him to choke. He should probably look for a way to breathe, to stop the sand from pouring into his mouth every time he gasped for air, but he couldn't quite make himself care enough.

He already felt like he was dying, and maybe it was better to get it over with as quickly as possible because dying _hurt_. Curling up into a ball, he waited for it all to stop.

But then he was vaguely aware of something tugging at him, pulling him to his feet where he stumbled, his legs giving out until someone wrapped a supporting arm around him. Gray pried open his eyes and narrowed them against the wind and sand, blinking uncomprehendingly at Natsu for a second. Clearly he was hallucinating things again, because Natsu was definitely gone and safe, just like Happy had promised.

Satisfied with his explanation, Gray let his eyes drift shut again as he teetered and collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. For an instant he imagined he heard something like the faintest muffled cursing over the roar of the wind, and then he was tugged forward. Hallucinations weren't usually so physical. Gray had a bad feeling that Natsu had been an idiot and come back for him.

Something was shoved roughly against his face and he flailed weakly for a moment, his entire body heaving as he continued his futile attempts to cough up the sand in his lungs. Forcing his eyes open a crack, he found that Natsu was holding his scarf over his own nose and mouth with one hand and trying to support Gray and hold the scarf against his face with the other. The dragon slayer was trying to jostle him into holding the scarf up on his own, but Gray's limbs were too heavy to cooperate.

Instead, he closed his eyes again and turned his head slightly to bury his face in Natsu's shoulder. It was better than nothing, even if some sand kept working its way into his mouth anyway. There wasn't much he could do about it rubbing off the skin on the rest of his body though.

Natsu seemed to come to a decision, abandoning his attempt to help Gray breathe in favor of supporting him and dragging him back through the city. Gray leaned against his side heavily and wasn't much help. He could barely put one foot in front of the other and it was made even harder by the fact that he must have twisted an ankle in the explosion, pain lancing through his leg at every step. Natsu was walking for both of them half the time but Gray did what he could, pushing himself in a way that hadn't before because this time he would take his friend down with him if he failed or gave up.

It was like a never-ending nightmare, just a blur of stumbling and coughing and fighting against the wind, each step forward a momentous victory. It seemed to go on forever, but gradually it seemed to get slightly better. The winds perhaps weren't as strong, the sand not as grating. When it finally stopped entirely, Gray didn't even realize it for a second.

Forcing his eyes open again, he realized that Natsu had somehow managed to drag them through the entire city and out the other side. Now they were swaying in the shelter of a large rock that was blocking the worst of the storm raging around them, along with the rest of the team and a handful of brown-skinned villagers. Everyone looked torn between worry and relief. They were talking to him and Natsu, asking questions, trying to figure out if anything was wrong, but their voices blended together in a wordless blur in Gray's head.

He pulled away from Natsu, swaying for a moment before the world spun and he went crashing to the ground, falling to his hands and knees as he waited for reality to come back into focus again. He coughed and coughed, great, heaving coughs that brought up lungful after lungful of sand. They racked his entire body, so violent that they tore open his wounds and sent shooting pains through his ribs, and the air and grit grated against his aching throat that had already been rubbed raw by the sand on its way down.

Someone was shoving a canteen at him, trying to get him to drink. Once he had mostly cleared his lungs, he took a careful sip. The liquid swept away some of the grime coating the inside of his mouth, but he forced himself to swallow with a grimace.

"You're supposed to rinse your mouth out first, you idiot," Natsu grumbled, coughing harshly.

"You don't waste water in the desert," Gray mumbled back.

No longer on the verge of suffocating or passing out, he slowly sat back against the rock and looked around. Lucy and Happy were fussing over Natsu but he seemed mostly fine, if tired and sore. Erza was kneeling in front of Gray and peering at him worriedly, the canteen still in her hand. Her eyes were red-rimmed and irritated from the sand and any bare skin looked sore as well, but she seemed otherwise fine.

She pressed her free hand to his forehead and then gently ran it over his face with a frown. He winced and tried to pull away, not liking the contact on his raw skin or the extra heat her hand brought.

"Your skin is so hot," she muttered. Frown deepening, she poured a small amount of water into her hand and carefully rubbed it across his face, the lukewarm liquid providing at least some small relief.

Gray leaned back, wincing as the slight movement jarred every bone in his body. "I'm fine," he managed, his voice scratchy.

"Yes, well you aren't looking so good," Erza said briskly, giving him a hard look. "I thought you said you had a plan."

"I did. Sort of." Better to let them think that his supposed plan had failed than to have them realize that he hadn't expected to make it back. He looked over at Happy and raised an eyebrow. "I thought I told you to stop Natsu from doing anything stupid."

Happy shrugged unrepentantly. "You know how hard it is to stop him from doing something once he's made up his mind."

"Besides," Natsu cut in, scowling at the ice mage, "it's a damn good thing I did, isn't it? You didn't look like you were going anywhere any time soon."

Gray winced and looked away. "Yeah…Thanks…"

"You didn't really think that we'd just leave you there, did you?" Erza asked incredulously, arching an eyebrow. "We would have all gone back if we thought it would help, after we got out everyone we could. We were always planning on going back for you."

Gray swallowed and looked at anything but his friends. He should have suspected that they'd come back. In their place, he would have done the same thing. And things had worked out, but Natsu could have easily lost his way in the blinding sandstorm and died out there because Gray had been too weak to maintain the shield for long enough.

His fingers curled into helpless fists, but then his gaze suddenly landed on the people huddled off to the side and he was instantly distracted.

"Oh God," he breathed, horrified, "did everyone make it out?"

His eyes darted back and forth frantically as he counted. All eight villagers were there, as well as five treasure hunters who looked like all the fight had drained out of them. There was also a small pile of supplies on the ground and some horses sheltering nearby. The makeshift stable had been near the safe house they had chosen, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that the villagers had the foresight to bring some of their prized horses and life-giving food and water with them as they left.

That was all well and good, but how many treasure hunters had been in the city? At least fourteen, maybe more, and some of them had certainly been injured in the fighting. Gray had the sinking feeling that some of them might not have made it out.

"Well, all the villagers are safe," Lucy replied, "and we picked up a few of the treasure hunters along the way. But they all scattered when they realized what was happening, so they've probably left the city in all different directions. After the storm subsides we'll have to go round them up and see who we find, but there's nothing we can do yet."

Gray let out a shaky breath. No, they couldn't do anything until the storm died down, but if anyone had died… He shook his head to banish the thought, the movement making his head spin.

"Oh, you're bleeding," Erza said suddenly. "Might as well bandage up your wounds. Good grief, where did they all come from?"

"Hm…Got a few fighting," he muttered, his words slurring together a little as he fought to stay conscious. He was so exhausted and drained and aching that it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. "Got some when my shield finally shattered. Bruised or cracked a couple ribs in the explosion, and I think something's wrong with my right ankle. But other than that…"

He trailed off and shrugged, resting his head against the rock behind him as he watched his friends through half-lidded eyes. His head was throbbing again and making it difficult to focus. He probably shouldn't fall asleep in case he had a concussion, but he was so _tired_.

"Well, I'll take a look," Erza said.

She began carefully wrapping his injuries with strips of cloth, and gently prodded at his ribs and ankle before wrapping those as well. Gray hissed in pain but stayed otherwise quiet through her ministrations. Lucy started fussing over Natsu again and insisted on binding up his injuries too, so he sat down next to the ice mage heavily, looking just as exhausted as Gray felt.

Gray swam in and out of consciousness for a while before Erza's voice pulled him back for a moment.

"Go ahead and rest," she said gently. "We'll wake you up when the storm is over."

Mumbling something unintelligible, Gray gratefully allowed himself to sink into sleep.

* * *

Someone was shaking him and calling his name, so Gray clawed his way awake, forcing his eyes open even though all he wanted to do was go right back to sleep. Apparently he'd slumped over on Natsu at some point, which was kind of ironic given that it was usually the other way around, at least where trains were concerned.

"Sorry," he mumbled, pushing himself away from the dragon slayer with some difficulty. Looking around, he realized that everyone else had disappeared. "What…?"

"They tried to wake us up when the storm first stopped, but you were really out of it and we figured you could probably use some more rest," Natsu said, eyeing him. "And I was plenty exhausted from running through all that, so I stayed too. Erza just came by to say that they finally finished cleaning things up. They searched the whole area for treasure hunters and had Happy fly around to double-check, and we figure that we've found all there are to find."

Gray stared at him uncomprehendingly, trying to make his sluggish brain sort through all that information, then nodded and slowly pushed himself to his feet, leaning against the rock for support as the world tilted disconcertingly and his injured ankle protested.

"Yeah, okay," he managed to choke out. "We should go see what they found."

He edged away a few steps, trailing his hand across the stone just in case, to peer around the boulder blocking his view. His eyes widened and he sucked in a sharp breath that set off a flurry of coughs. The entire city was gone, covered in sloping drifts of sand as if it had never been there at all. If anyone hadn't made it out… It made Gray sick to think that someone might have been buried alive in all that.

"I bet this is what happened to the tribe from the legend," he said absently, his eyes drifting over the mounds of sand. "The enchanted stone cracked and unleashed a wave of power that stirred up a sandstorm big enough to bury the entire city. No god necessary."

"Mhm." Natsu's reply was distracted. Turning, Gray saw that his friend had stood up and was watching him with a small frown. "Are you alright? You were in pretty bad shape."

Well, he was standing, which was something. He might collapse or pass out at any moment but other than that, sure, he was alright.

"Yeah. Where are the others?"

Natsu didn't move. "Why did you stay with the shield instead of coming with us?"

"I told you, I needed to maintain it."

"You make shields all the time and you can walk away afterwards because they keep themselves up."

"Yeah, but that amulet's magic was ridiculously strong and it was battering the shield constantly," Gray explained wearily. "And I wasn't exactly at full strength either. The only way I could stop the shield from breaking down was if I channeled a constant stream of magic into it."

He had the feeling that he might have said too much when something unreadable flashed in his friend's eyes.

"Channeled a constant stream of magic?" Natsu repeated, giving him a flat look. "You were never intending to leave, were you?"

Gray winced. "I _couldn't_ leave. I had to buy everyone as much time as possible."

"I thought you had a plan."

"Yeah…"

"Why don't you tell me this magnificent plan of yours then?" Natsu asked coldly, nostrils flaring. "Because it sounds a lot like you were giving up to me."

Gray didn't say anything for a long moment. "Hang on until either I ran out of magic or I outlasted the amulet's."

"And you ran out first?" Natsu asked, his anger fading into something sadder.

"Yeah."

"And you knew that from the beginning?"

"…Yeah."

"Gray…"

"I didn't have a whole lot of options at that point," Gray said firmly, glancing away. "I did what I had to. Can we go find the others now?"

Natsu still didn't move, and Gray sighed impatiently. He really didn't want to be having this conversation right now. He just wanted to take stock of the situation, get the hell out of the desert, and sleep for a month.

"You remember when I told you that you'd better not use iced shell if this was a demon?" Natsu asked finally. "You're not supposed to pull these stupid sacrificial things on us. At the very least, you should have let me stay so that I could get you out afterwards."

"I didn't know how powerful the amulet would still be when I lost control of the shield. For all I knew, it could have killed anyone nearby. I didn't want anyone else around it, and it was stupid of you to come back for me. But…thank you. Even though you're an idiot."

Natsu choked out a raspy laugh, although it was only partly amused. "So are you. It was stupid of you to think that we'd really leave you there by yourself." His voice hardened for a moment as he said, "Don't you dare do that again." Then he sighed and turned away. "Well, let's go find Erza and the others."

Gray nodded silently and limped after him. He swayed a little, finding it difficult to stay upright, but pushed himself to keep going. No point losing it now when he'd already survived the worst of it.

Rounding a tall sand dune that hadn't been there before the storm, Gray spotted the rest of the team, along with the villagers, a bunch of treasure hunters, some horses, and a pile of supplies. The treasure hunters were tied up and their weapons had been confiscated, but Lucy and Happy were being nice enough to take a look at any serious injuries and provide small quantities of water. Gray recognized the leader sitting there as well, eyes hard and mouth set in an unforgiving line. Erza had apparently been interrogating him, but she turned when she heard the new arrivals approaching.

"Oh Gray, you're finally awake. Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The lie was automatic, just one more in a long string of half-truths and falsehoods.

"That's good. We thought about waking you up when the storm first ended, but Natsu nearly bit our heads off for even suggesting it," Lucy added with a sly grin.

Gray stared at her for a moment and then looked over at Natsu, who flushed and looked away.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

Gray snorted. "Well, I'm up now. What–?" He broke off as an earlier thought resurfaced. Moving over to stand by Erza, he looked down at her interrogation victim. "How many of your people are missing?"

A quick glance around revealed that there were thirteen treasure hunters present, and Gray's heart sank. Their earlier reconnaissance had made it clear that there were at least fourteen.

The leader's eyes flashed darkly and he grimaced. "Two."

Gray let out a shaky breath and looked away, eyes dimming. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Suggesting that they continue to search for the missing men would be pointless. It would have been too difficult for the treasure hunters to get very far when they were all at least mildly injured, and Happy would have spotted them from the air. No, those two men were dead, buried in the ruins of an ancient city under tons of sand.

And it was Gray's fault.

If he hadn't been so weak, hadn't pretended that he could handle things when he obviously couldn't, then those men might still be alive. Gray had let the desert wear him down until he was too damn weak to do his job. If he had just held on a little longer…

"Yes, we're very sorry for your loss," Lucy murmured, subdued.

"That's not what he means," Natsu growled.

Gray yelped in surprise as the dragon slayer suddenly grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him around so that they were standing face-to-face. He frowned, wondering why Natsu suddenly looked so angry.

"What–?"

"Stop being such an idiot. I don't know how you come up with this bullshit, but it isn't your fault and you should know it. Honestly. If you want to blame anyone, blame the asshole who decided it was a good idea to unleash a bunch of uncontrollable magic."

Gray stared back, dumbfounded, wondering how Natsu could read him so easily. "He was just stupid. He didn't know what he was doing."

"Yeah, well he almost got everyone killed anyway," Natsu snapped back. "In case you've forgotten, you're the only reason that _anyone_ made it out. And you almost got yourself killed trying to protect the very people we were just fighting. If anyone should be apologizing here then _they_ should be apologizing to _you_."

Gray pursed his lips and looked away. Natsu didn't understand. If Gray had been at full strength then he could have held that shield for so much longer and everyone might have had enough time to escape. But because he was weak, he hadn't been able to hold on for nearly as long as he should have.

"Yeah," he muttered anyway. He pawed feebly at the hand still clutching his shirt, hating that he didn't even have the strength to push his friend off him. "Let go," he slurred.

Concern flickered in Natsu's eyes at the weakness of his protest, but he released him and took a step back. Gray swayed unsteadily, colors blurring together for a moment until the world came back into focus again, but stayed upright.

"Natsu's right, Gray," Erza said softly. "You shouldn't be worried about not being able to save two people when you saved ten times as many. It's a tragedy, but it's also a miracle that more lives weren't lost with how powerful that magic was. You saved a lot of people."

"Yeah," he said, narrowing his eyes at the ground. "I know."

The words tasted like just another mouthful of sand and they were just as hard to swallow. It wasn't that he didn't understand what the others were saying, but… They also didn't realize exactly how badly he'd messed things up.

Thankfully, after a moment of hesitation, the team decided that he had internalized their words and decided to let the issue go in favor of continuing to take care of the aftermath. Gray tried to pay attention to everything that was going on, he really did, but his head was still spinning and the blow to his skull that he'd taken earlier wasn't helping things.

"Alright," Erza said finally, the briskness of her tone making it clear that she was about to start handing out orders. Gray pulled himself halfway out of his daze to listen to what she had to say. "The amulet is probably not an issue any longer because it's broken and should be buried pretty deeply, but I agree that we shouldn't take any chances. It's possible that the pieces might contain residual magic that could be dangerous if handled improperly, and it's also possible, if unlikely, that some of them are near the surface. We wouldn't want anyone to come by and stumble across one.

"Our team will comb over the area to see if we can find any of the pieces and while we do that, you guys can start heading back home. Bring the treasure hunters with you. They shouldn't pose a threat now that they're disarmed and bound, but we'll keep an eye on them once we catch up."

She paused and frowned thoughtfully. "Actually, it would be great if one of you could stay behind to act as a guide. We, um, got lost on the way here. When we're finished, we'll catch up to you and escort you the rest of the way to your village. It shouldn't take us long, but you'll be moving slower with all the treasure hunters so it's better to get a head start. Alright?"

There was a chorus of agreement, and Gray promptly started zoning out again. He was only dragged back to reality when Lucy suddenly thrust a shirt in his face. Reeling backward in surprise, he stared at her in confusion.

She flushed and coughed awkwardly. "We went back to the spot where we camped last night, and luckily it wasn't buried since it was far enough away and sheltered behind a rock. I, uh, figured that you might want to change into a clean shirt since that one is pretty much ruined, so I found an extra in your bag."

Gray blinked at her slowly and then glanced down at himself. Sure enough, his shirt was in tatters, slashed open in several places and crusted with dried blood.

"Thanks," he mumbled, tugging off the remains of what had once been a shirt and pulling on the fresh one.

"And here's your pack," Lucy added, picking up the bag next to her and handing it to him. "Erza says we should keep them because there's still some water left."

"Okay."

Glancing around, he realized that while he'd been zoned out, the villagers and treasure hunters had taken off. Only one villager was left, sitting cross-legged next to a couple horses as he waited on the Fairy Tail mages.

"Well, let's try to get this done as quickly as possible so that we can get out of here," Erza said. "Everyone split up and poke around a little. We're looking for remnants of the amulet, but if you see anything else suspicious then take a look too. We won't bother with a super thorough search, but at least look for anything obvious."

Gray resisted the urge to groan. All he wanted to do was get out of this godforsaken desert already. But he wasn't going to complain now, not when they were so close to being done, so he reluctantly dragged himself off to search through the sands as everyone else scattered in different directions.

He somehow managed to keep walking until he was sure that he was hidden from the others by a newly-formed ridge of sand. Then he paused and swallowed, the gesture made difficult by the fact that his dry mouth felt like cotton. Pulling out his canteen, he took a hesitant sip of water and immediately regretted it. His already unsettled stomach rebelled instantly and he found himself crashing to his knees as he retched into the sand, his entire body heaving with the effort even though the only thing left in his stomach to expel was sand and a little water.

When he was finally finished, he gingerly rinsed his mouth and stumbled to his feet again. He made it only a short way before sinking to the ground in defeat. He should be searching for…whatever it was that he was supposed to be searching for, but he didn't have the strength. Drawing his knees to his chest, he stared ahead sightlessly as his thoughts became more and more fragmented.

The heat was even worse now. Now that his magic was gone and replenishing itself much too slowly, it felt like the heat was eating him from the inside out as well as beating down on him from the outside. He hadn't realized exactly how much of a barrier his magic must have been providing against the heat, but now that it was gone, all that was left to fill the void was a terrible burning that twisted his insides and warped his mind.

Gray didn't know how long he had been sitting there lost in his own misery, but eventually he became vaguely aware that his friends were calling him. They didn't sound worried yet and he'd rather keep it that way, so he somehow managed to push himself to his feet unsteadily and slowly make his way over to where they were waiting. Their voices blurred together in an incomprehensible slur of sound, but he just shook his head numbly to indicate that he hadn't found anything. He completely shut out the rest of the conversation until Lucy addressed him directly.

"Hey Gray, think you can make us some more ice cubes?" she asked cheerfully, somehow managing to miss the fact that he looked like death.

Gray stared at her blankly for a moment. "I don't think so," he slurred finally, his words slow and drawn out.

"Gray?" She peered at him more closely, suddenly worried. "Are you okay?"

He shrugged and swayed, still focused on her earlier question. "Magic's not been working properly for a while. Don't think it's working right anymore."

He raised one leaden hand and tried to summon any kind of ice at all, but somehow only managed to produce a trickle of water instead. He wasn't sure if it was a result of his screwed-up magic or if his ice was just so weak that it now melted immediately upon contact with the desert air, but it seemed terribly ironic.

He started laughing, the sound awful and grating. Here he was, stuck in the middle of one of the driest places on the planet, and he was suddenly making _water_. He probably shouldn't tell Juvia—she'd get way too excited and take it as a sign that they should be together. That seemed suddenly funny too.

He was vaguely aware that his friends were starting to panic, but their voices and forms were wavering out of focus, blurring into streaks of fuzzy color and muted sound. Gray tried to take a step forward, but his legs buckled underneath him and he finally collapsed.

His last thought before hitting the ground and falling unconscious was that, once again, the desert had won.

* * *

 **Note: Can I still make it _waaay_ worse? Yes, yes I can. You're welcome.**

 **emmahoshi: No joke, your reviews always make me laugh. Highlight of my day lol Ha, yeah, Gray's brain isn't really functioning well anymore, and what are clearly contradictions to you and I might not be as obviously invalid to someone who is no longer thinking rationally ; ) It's okay lol It makes me feel good that you're invested enough in the story to talk at it XD Yeah, I went kind of snarky with the treasure hunters' leader. He was quite a character (for all of a few paragraphs, anyway lol). Oh yes, there's a direct correlation between how much I love a character and how much physical and mental torment I put them through XD Gray's at the top of my list right now. Lol yeah, after this point it goes beyond simple heat stroke and into even worse things. Because I can :3 Happy almost New Year's to you too : ) Hope 2017 is a great year!**


	11. Everyone panics, aside from Gray

**Note: Man, you guys are a bloodthirsty bunch. What's wrong with you? ...Actually, you've come to the right place. Join the club XD**

 **ChocoNeko Ninja: Happy belated birthday : ) The timing of my update was totally a coincidence, but a good one, yeah? And don't worry about commenting "late". There's no such thing XD**

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 _(In which everyone panics, aside from Gray, who is unable to do so for obvious reasons.)_

* * *

As far as Natsu was concerned, this whole affair was finally over. Technically it wasn't _over_ -over since they were still out here in the desert, but they'd rescued the villagers and taken out the dark guild. Or treasure hunters or whatever—he didn't care overmuch about details. Whatever the case, the job was over, they weren't lost, and there was nothing else to worry about.

Of course, just because he thought everything was over didn't mean that Erza agreed. At the urging of the old lady from the village, the requip mage had agreed to have the team stay back and poke around the area for any remnants of the amulet that had caused this whole mess. Natsu figured it was probably pointless. Surely the amulet would be buried well under all the sand it had stirred up and even if it did turn up again, it should be harmless now that it had released its magic.

But Erza was Erza and Natsu wasn't going to go against her, so he reluctantly wandered around with Happy for a bit, looking about with a marked lack of enthusiasm. It was hard to work up any eagerness for the task when he was still tired and achy from fighting his way through that sandstorm. It wasn't the heat that was bothering him, but rather exhaustion and the rawness of his throat and skin, along with a few minor injuries. He supposed that Gray had it worse though, since he had been right at the epicenter of the explosion. Gray was lucky that he was alive at all. If Natsu hadn't already almost reached him by the time the shield went down, he never would have been able to find him in that blinding haze of sand. It was a miracle that he'd somehow managed to get them back out again too.

Then again, there wasn't any point worrying about that anymore. The job was done, the real danger had passed, and Natsu didn't see why he should keep dwelling on it. Well, he might smack Gray for being so damn stupid, but not until they'd had more time to recover.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Happy asked, peering at him in concern. "That sandstorm really did a number on you."

"Yeah. I'm mostly just sore and tired and ready to get out of here and sleep for a week. That's all. I hope Erza gives up on this soon."

"Me too," Happy grumbled, fluttering his wings in exasperation. "We've already been searching for _ever_ and it's just sand, sand, and more sand. If we haven't found anything by now then we never will."

Natsu agreed wholeheartedly and was about to say so when Erza's voice split the air, calling the team to come back together again. It was about time. Natsu and Happy followed her voice to find her standing with Lucy.

"Where's Gray?" she asked.

"Dunno," Natsu said with a shrug, not particularly worried. "Around here somewhere, I guess."

Erza sighed and then sucked in a lungful of air. "Gray!"

"So, did you find anything?"

"Good grief. Just wait until Gray gets here."

There was no response from their missing friend, and Erza was just about to call for him again when he finally appeared around a ridge of sand and picked his way over to them. He looked pretty terrible. The ankle he had sprained gave him a pronounced limp and he moved sluggishly, staring at the ground with glazed eyes. He had certainly taken a beating from the amulet, so it wasn't really surprising that he was still recovering. If they weren't about to escape this desert then Natsu would be worried, but as it stood, Gray would be able to rest soon.

"Did _you_ find anything, ice block?"

Gray shook his head jerkily. He was sort of looking at them, but not really. Well, it wasn't like he had been giving them his undivided attention recently anyway.

"I found a piece of the amulet," Erza said impatiently, holding up her hand to show them the shard of red stone in her palm.

"Really?" Natsu asked in surprise.

She looked at him like he was stupid, which maybe wasn't surprising since it had been kind of a stupid question. "Yes, really. I can't quite believe it either. Anyway, it doesn't seem like there's any more magic in it so I think it's safe to say that there's no reason to worry about the other pieces still being dangerous. We'll take this back with us and decide what to do with it."

"So we can go now?" Lucy asked, perking up. "I'm so ready to get out of this desert."

"Yes. No reason for us to stay any longer. Grab your packs and let's go."

Lucy hefted her bag from where she'd dropped it in the sand and groaned slightly, before a thought occurred to her and her eyes lit up. "Hey Gray, think you can make us some more ice cubes?"

Then she paused and frowned a little, likely wondering if it was a good idea to ask him to use more magic after he'd already drained himself dry trying to contain the amulet. Before she could decide whether to retract her request, Gray spoke up.

"I don't think so," he mumbled after a few beats of silence. He somehow made even that short statement sound laborious, as if it was too much effort to push the words out.

Suddenly, Natsu was worried again. If Gray had just performed the requested magic then there would be nothing to worry about. If he had just said that he was too tired or didn't want to use any more magic then there would be nothing to worry about. But he should definitely know what his limits were and what he was capable of. There was no way he would worry them with an answer like that unless something was wrong.

"Gray?" Lucy asked, leaning forward to study his face anxiously. "Are you okay?"

He sort of half-shrugged, swaying a little unsteadily. Natsu wasn't sure if he was really listening to them anymore because when he spoke next, he didn't actually answer the question.

"Magic's not been working properly for a while," he slurred, his words running together in an almost languid fashion. "Don't think it's working right anymore."

Natsu froze, staring at him wide-eyed. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Gray lifted a hand slowly and water trickled through his fingers. It took Natsu a second to realize that Gray himself had made it. He had made it instead of ice. Natsu and the others were stunned, gaping at the unexpected liquid in horrified disbelief.

And then Gray started laughing.

Natsu jerked back in surprise, his gaze snapping back up to his friend's face. He wasn't sure that Gray was entirely there, entirely aware of what was going on around him, but why was he _laughing_? It wasn't exactly hysterical, but there was something not quite right about it and it made Natsu want to slam his hands over his ears or cover Gray's mouth or _something_ so that he didn't have to hear it anymore.

Gray was mumbling things, not-quite-right things, in between his choked laughs and the ragged breaths he kept sucking in. They were partially hidden beneath all the mindless laughter and the words were so slurred that many of them were indistinct, but what Natsu managed to make out was not reassuring.

"…one of driest places…making water… _water_ …shouldn't tell Juvia…take it as a sign…never leave me alone…"

"Gray!" Erza said frantically, stepping towards him. "What's wrong? Gray? Gray!"

Lucy and Happy rushed forward as well, but Natsu was frozen in place as he watched Gray take an unsteady step, sway dangerously, and fall, slamming face-first into the desert sand.

Everyone immediately panicked.

Erza lunged forward the last few paces and fell to her knees by her prone friend's side, Lucy and Happy not far behind. Lucy tried shaking Gray out of desperation, but he just flopped about lifelessly, clearly unconscious. Erza shoved her off none too gently and then hurriedly pulled off Gray's pack and tossed it to the side so that she could flip him over onto his back.

"What's wrong with him?" Lucy demanded, her voice taking on an almost hysterical edge.

"I don't know!" Erza snapped, fear making her words harsher than she probably intended them to be. She pressed slim fingers against Gray's neck, feeling for his pulse. "His breathing is shallow. His pulse is weak and unsteady. He's unconscious. But _why_?"

"The amulet?" Happy suggested uncertainly. "He had to have used a ton of magic trying to contain it and he was right next to it when he finally lost control of the shield. He would have gotten hit by all that magic full force."

Natsu finally managed to make his legs work again and hurried over to crouch in the sand with the others. He wasn't entirely sure how concerned he should be right now. Gray had to have taken some damage from the amulet's magic, but how bad was it? Maybe there wasn't anything to worry about and he was just exhausted and running low on magic so his body had temporarily shut down to recuperate, but Natsu also didn't know if the amulet might have more dangerous effects. He couldn't say for sure, but Gray's odd behavior just before he'd passed out was making the dragon slayer freak out a little.

"Idiot," he breathed, staring at Gray with wide eyes. "Why didn't he say something?"

Erza shrugged and hefted Gray's unconscious form with a slight grunt, tugging him over a bit so that his torso was resting on her lap instead of on the burning sand. She pressed a hand to his forehead and winced. His skin was raw from the sand and reddened from the heat, but underneath the flush it was almost white, giving him a sickly pallor.

"God, he's burning up," Erza said with a grimace. "Get me some water from one of the bags." Happy scurried to comply and brought her a canteen, which she snatched and twisted open before pausing. "That's weird. He's not even really sweating. His skin is just really hot and dry."

"Is that bad?" Lucy asked, wringing her hands together anxiously.

"I don't know, but it's hardly normal," Erza replied shortly, pouring some water into her hand and running it across Gray's face. The unconscious mage didn't so much as twitch.

"But it should be normal that he's hot since we've been in the desert so long," Natsu said. "I'm more worried about what that amulet might have done."

Erza shook her head. "He's not just hot. It feels like he's burning up from the inside. I mean, maybe it's just the heat, but…"

Natsu frowned and reached out to see for himself, but Erza quickly smacked his hand away.

"No offense, Natsu, but I don't think you should be touching him right now," she said, half apologetic and half distracted as she returned her attention to Gray. "He's overheated enough without adding your body heat into the mix."

Natsu grimaced but relented. He saw the sense in that, but he also didn't want to just sit here and do nothing. He had never been the type of person to just sit around—he needed to feel like he was doing _something_ to help.

"Happy, go get the villager that stayed behind to guide us back," Erza continued, gesturing vaguely at a low ridge of sand a short distance away. "He's over there with the horses. Get him over here so that we can head back to the village and find help."

The Exceed didn't even bother responding, just jumped into the air and flew off without another word.

"What is it doing to him?" Lucy whispered fearfully.

"I don't know." Erza shook her head. "I don't know."

"Maybe it's not as bad as looks," Natsu suggested optimistically. "Give him a day or two and he'll be back to his normal annoying self."

Erza looked up at him. "Don't panic, Natsu. It won't do any good if we panic."

"Who's panicking? I'm sure not. Nope, no panicking here."

She shot him a look, but elected not to say anything else since Happy was already speeding back towards them as quickly as his wings could carry him, the villager hurrying after him with the horses they'd kept for the return trip in tow. As Happy dropped to the sand next to Natsu, the village boy peered down at Gray curiously.

"What has happened to your friend?" he asked.

"We don't know," Erza said shortly. "He just collapsed. We assume that it's a side effect from being hit by the amulet's magic. We need to get him back as soon as possible and find a healer to take a look at him. Probably we'll have to find an outside healer since your people don't know much about magic, but first we need to get back."

The villager edged a little closer to study the ice mage with a frown. "No, your friend, he has heat stroke."

Natsu was having a hard time believing that. Not that the heat was affecting Gray, because it certainly was, but that the heat was what had precipitated the sudden collapse. Gray had survived the heat for days and had even been doing better with it than Natsu had expected, although that wasn't saying much. Besides, the timing seemed too coincidental to overlook—he had collapsed shortly after coming into contact with the amulet's power, after all.

"The heat was taking a toll on him," Erza conceded, "but I think the real problem is the amulet."

The boy shrugged. "I know little of magic so I cannot say the god did not do damage to him. But I have lived in desert all my life and I have seen many, many people with heat stroke."

"He knew the symptoms though," Lucy said. "He would have to have known if the heat was becoming too much for him to handle, but he didn't say anything."

"Besides," Happy added, "he's not even sweating. I mean, you sweat if you're hot, so you'd think that if he wasn't sweating that would mean the heat wasn't too much for him."

"He is not sweating?" their guide asked, frowning. "That is sign of severe heat stroke. Your friend, he is very dehydrated."

Natsu didn't want to hear that. He and Happy had been keeping an eye on Gray these past days and although their friend had certainly been miserable, they hadn't detected anything too seriously wrong. The girls had definitely been watching too, and Erza had eyes like a hawk. If things had been that bad then _someone_ would have noticed.

"Maybe the amulet accelerated the effects of the heat?" Erza suggested, looking no less reluctant to accept the implications of what they were being told.

"I do not know, but he must have withstood the effects for a long time to be this ill now." The boy knelt beside Gray and efficiently checked his vitals, shaking his head in a mixture of worry and awe. "He is doing very badly. It is amazing that he defeated the god in his condition."

It took Natsu a minute to figure that one out before he remembered that the villagers were convinced that the amulet had trapped some kind of ancient god. That clearly wasn't true, but he was too concerned with other things at the moment to bother protesting.

"But–"

"Surely you must have seen signs? It is a little different for everyone, but there must have been something. Perhaps your friend was confused or disoriented? Or felt very ill?"

"Well…" Natsu frowned and shifted uncomfortably. "He _was_ really out of sorts and wasn't paying attention to much of anything, but he does that sometimes when it's hot out." He glanced at the others helplessly. "But did he ever seem sick to you?"

Lucy shook her head. "Not really."

"But he also wasn't eating properly," Happy said in a small voice. "Remember last night when he still had all that extra food left?"

They all stared at each other, not liking where this seemed to be going.

"You know, back when I met up with him in the town market just before we came to the village, he tried to pawn off some food on me," Lucy said slowly. "He said something about the heat killing his appetite."

"He didn't eat much while we were in the village either," Natsu admitted.

"That is not good," the villager said. "It would be better if he had eaten properly to keep his strength up."

"He would have known that," Happy said quietly.

Erza let out a harsh breath. "Maybe he started off not eating because the heat killed his appetite or whatever, but if he started feeling nauseous and didn't want us to know…"

She grimaced and carefully splashed some more lukewarm water on Gray's face, fanning her hand overhead to create a breeze to help cool him. He stayed perfectly motionless, aside from his chest rising and falling slightly to match his shallow breaths. It was unnatural to see him so still when he was usually so full of life.

"Okay, well we knew that he was going to have some trouble with the heat," Natsu said, swallowing hard. "And it seems like maybe it was bothering him more than he let on. But…I still think we would have noticed something if it was _that_ bad. Do nauseousness and confusion really equal heat stroke?"

Their guide shrugged again. "Not always, but they are good indicators. Also, dizziness. Perhaps your friend was lightheaded? Or fainted?"

"Nah, he never…" Natsu trailed off and frowned. Something was tugging at his mind, but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

"He's been awfully clumsy lately," Lucy said, her mouth twisting in an almost sickened expression.

"I guess that if he was dizzy sometimes then that could explain some of it," Happy added.

Natsu met Erza's gaze and saw the same dawning knowledge reflected there.

"You know how he kept 'tripping' so much…?" the requip mage asked.

Lucy closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath. "You think he was actually passing out."

It wasn't quite a question, but Erza nodded anyway. That tripping thing had started days ago. Could Gray really have been passing out for days and they'd never noticed? Another thought struck Natsu and a nauseous feeling settled in his stomach.

"Yesterday he 'tripped' right after he made ice for you guys. And I noticed that he'd stopped making ice for himself even though he kept making it for us. I thought that maybe it was a sign that he was handling the heat better than I thought he was, but… I don't know. He wasn't eating, he wasn't sleeping, he had all those problems with the heat, and… I think he might have been having trouble using his magic even then."

"And then on top of that, he used up all the rest of his magic trying to contain the amulet and then got hit by all that power," Happy breathed, horrified.

If Natsu hadn't been really worried before then he was now. God, how could he have misjudged the situation so badly?

"But he'd been in deserts before and knew all the warning signs," Lucy burst out, her fingers curling into helpless fists. "If he had just told us what was happening then maybe we could have done something, but he didn't ever complain about nausea or dizziness or any of it. Why didn't he just _tell_ us?"

Natsu's breath got stuck in his throat as one particular word caught his attention.

"The goddamn challenge," he breathed, voice wavering as he dropped his head into his hands. "Why did he have to take it so damn literally?"

Natsu had screwed up. He had screwed up very, very badly. He had challenged Gray to survive the heat and not 'complain' about it, and his friend had apparently taken that to heart. He had never meant that Gray couldn't tell them if there was a problem, but now it was too late and it was Natsu's fault.

"Natsu!" Erza snapped. He looked over and she grimaced at whatever she saw in his eyes. "Take a deep breath and calm down. Maybe the challenge was part of it, but Gray is stubborn enough on his own and wouldn't want to show anything he perceived as weakness. And anyway, he probably hid it because we were lost and there wasn't a whole lot we could do about it."

"We knew what direction to go if we wanted to get out of the desert quicker," Happy objected.

"Yeah, but then we wouldn't have completed the job. And pride aside, he wouldn't have wanted to leave without rescuing the villagers."

Natsu let out a shuddering breath. That was all true, but it was also true that he was the one who had picked this job and issued the challenge. Without that, this never would have happened.

"Whatever the case," Erza continued firmly, "we need to get him back to the village as quickly as possible. Forget about joining up with the others. They can make it back on their own. We'll just stop by to grab that old woman since she's supposed to be a healer, and she'll be able to help him. We just need to get him out of the heat."

Erza's confidence would have buoyed Natsu's spirits, as it was undoubtedly intended to, if he didn't know that she was terrified. But she was still right. The tribespeople dealt with heat-related illness all the time; they would know how to best help Gray now.

Erza hefted Gray up onto a horse and settled him in front of her awkwardly. The others all quickly mounted as well and took off following their guide as he streaked through the sands back towards his home.

But no matter how fast they went, Gray's breathing just continued to get shallower and shallower, and he never woke up.

* * *

When they'd caught up to the rest of the villagers and the prisoners they were escorting, the healer had taken one look at Gray and declared—with the help of an interpreter, since she only spoke the native tribal language—that there was something wrong with him besides heat stroke. That had led them all to assume that maybe this whole mess was due to the amulet after all, except that she'd explained that he most definitely had severe heat stroke as well. Which was just great. Because what Gray really needed was to get hit by both heat stroke and nasty magic at the same damn time.

And he really wasn't looking too good. Not good at all. Not that Natsu was panicking or anything. There definitely wasn't anything to panic about yet. Gray was basically just sleeping—except that he was much too _still_ and he wouldn't just wake _up,_ why wouldn't he wake _up_?—and he hadn't been unconscious for _that_ long. Besides, he might be an annoying jerk, but he was tough and definitely too strong to be taken out by something wimpy like heat and some lame amulet. Definitely.

So Natsu not-panicked all the way back to the village. Thankfully the trip didn't take nearly as long as it had the first time, although even with the shorter route and horses it took hours. They managed to shave off some more time by taking the healer and leaving the rest of the villagers behind to catch up later. Normally Erza wouldn't stand for leaving non-mages in charge of prisoners for very long due to potential safety hazards, but she didn't seem to care about that at the moment. The rest of the team didn't bother protesting; they didn't want to be slowed down either.

But it still didn't seem to be fast enough because Gray was maybe starting to look even worse, if that was possible. Natsu didn't think he could get any stiller but apparently he could, and his breathing was getting so weak that it seemed like his chest was barely moving at all.

Natsu wasn't panicking, but he wished that there was something he could do so that he didn't feel so helpless. Instead, he had to just lurk on the sidelines and watch the goings-on.

As soon as they reached the village they told Desert Hawk what had happened, although their explanation was rushed and not entirely coherent. Because he and the rest of the village were both grateful to the team for rescuing their loved ones and terribly impressed that Gray had defeated a god—no one had bothered informing them otherwise—they immediately sent someone to fetch a healer from the town. Healing magic was rather rare, but apparently this healer had some kind of sensory magic to help diagnose problems and could make simple charms and potions for healing. Or something like that. Natsu was too busy not-panicking to really pay attention to the details.

Gray was immediately taken inside and one of the rooms of the house they'd stayed in last time was converted into a temporary sickroom for him. Erza and Lucy hovered over him as closely as the wise woman would allow as she worked to stabilize him. Natsu hung back and prowled the edges of the room, jittery and unable to keep his eyes off Gray. The room was starting to feel claustrophobic and he was feeling helpless and he hated it.

"I'll be back," he said abruptly, turning on his heel and walking out the door. He couldn't just sit in there uselessly anymore. It was only stressing him out more.

The girls didn't protest—they might actually be a little grateful for his departure, if only because he suspected that his restless pacing was adding to _their_ stress—but Happy followed him out. The little cat didn't say much and Natsu didn't feel like talking, so they wandered in silence for a while, the dragon slayer roaming about restlessly while Happy trailed behind for moral support. Mostly they just circled around the outside of the building mindlessly until Natsu decided that he needed a better distraction.

He was tired of worrying about Gray, especially since the ice mage would probably wake up in a few minutes and be just fine, so he determinedly started up some banter with Happy that had nothing at all to do with the present situation, although it was a little stilted and uneasy. They even did a little exploring of the rest of the village, but never strayed too far from the building where Gray lay, just in case.

That was just as well, because it was almost an hour later that they heard voices raised in alarm coming from the structure. He and Happy exchanged a worried look and ran back inside. Natsu charged down the hall and burst into the temporary infirmary, only to freeze in horror.

Gray wasn't still anymore. He was still unconscious, but his limbs were jerking wildly and his back arched in a way that looked awfully painful. His eyes were closed, but his previously slack expression was twisted into something far more grim and pained.

"What the hell?" Natsu breathed, eyes widening.

"He's having a seizure," Erza snapped. "No, don't try to restrain him," she added to Lucy, batting away her hands. "Just make sure he doesn't hurt himself on anything."

Erza was trying to keep it together but she was obviously rattled, her face drawn and pale as she desperately tried to find the best way to handle the situation. Lucy was certainly panicking, her whole body trembling, and even the village healer and Desert Hawk—who had stayed out of respect and so that he could act as a translator—looked extremely worried.

Happy immediately flew over to join the girls but Natsu stayed rooted to the spot, watching it all unfold until Gray's body gave a few last spasms and fell back to the bed again. Gray remained unconscious—how could he stay unconscious through something that wild and violent?—but he wasn't quite as still as he had been earlier. He still twitched occasionally and his face looked like a mask of pain rather than the almost peaceful stillness of before.

But at least he was moving a little bit now so that he looked less dead.

The old woman said something, her voice too loud in the sudden silence. Desert Hawk nodded to her and looked over at the team, his eyes grave.

"Sometimes heat stroke causes seizures," he told them solemnly, "but not usually ones like this. We know little about magic, but we suspect that this is the god's doing."

Lucy let out a shuddering breath and clasped her hands together. "Do you really think…?"

She threw pleading looks at her teammates, but they didn't have any comfort to offer her at the moment. They didn't know what the amulet's magic might be doing to Gray either.

"The healer that we have sent for knows more about magic," Desert Hawk said hurriedly, trying to reassure them. "She can use her magic to find out what is going wrong inside him and then try to fix it."

Natsu was not terribly impressed by the assertion and might have said so if Gray hadn't chosen that moment to start convulsing again. The dragon slayer watched in horrified fascination as his friend's body arched and contorted in impossible ways. The others immediately started freaking out again, desperately looking for any way to stop it even though there wasn't anything they could really do.

Natsu turned and walked out.

Probably he should stay to make sure that Gray would be okay, but the others were still there and he just couldn't stand to watch the spectacle anymore. He couldn't stand seeing his friend reduced to that trembling wreck. So even though half the muscles in his body screamed at him to stay, Natsu let the other half carry him back outside.

Happy didn't follow this time, which was just as well. Natsu stalked the length of the village restlessly, his keen eyes searching the horizon for any sign of the healer who should be coming.

It was at least another twenty minutes before he spotted the figures approaching. It was about damn time. The waiting had been driving him crazy.

He almost ran straight over and pounced on the healer but somehow managed to restrain himself, settling for bouncing impatiently on his heels until she and the villager escorting her rode up and dismounted. She was fairly young and her pale skin and red hair marked her as someone who was not native to the desert, but she stood straight and tall, projecting an air of confidence.

Natsu immediately wanted to trust her to fix Gray, which, he supposed, was the point. She'd certainly dealt with enough worried patients and loved ones, and he guessed that she'd found ways of putting them at ease and alleviating some of their fears. But Natsu didn't want to be soothed just yet.

"He's gotten worse," he said abruptly as she paused in front of him. "He was having seizures."

A frown flitted across her face for a moment before she smoothed it away. "How many has he had?"

"Two. Well, I saw two but there might have been more." His gaze dropped to the ground. "I…left. I got tired of sitting in there and I left."

It suddenly occurred to him how bad that sounded. His friend was unconscious and having seizures, and he had just _left_.

"That's understandable."

Natsu looked up at the healer automatically. It wasn't like he had really expected her to chew him out for leaving, but it still felt weird to have her act like it was perfectly okay and normal.

She studied him with compassionate eyes. "It's hard to watch someone you love suffer, especially when you're powerless to help."

Yeah, that pretty much summed it up. Natsu hated that he wasn't able to do anything, that there wasn't some bad guy he could beat up to make things better. He was used to tackling problems head-on and he didn't know how to handle a situation where there was just nothing he could do.

He cleared his throat. "I don't love him."

She stared at him blankly for a half a second before her lips quirked upwards despite the severity of the situation.

"I don't," Natsu muttered mutinously, averting his gaze. "He's annoying and has weird habits and drives me crazy and we fight all the time."

"But…?"

His shoulders slumped. "But he's my best friend and I need him to be okay."

She smiled at him gently, a hint of melancholy lurking at the edges. "My name's Sara, alright? I've been working as a healer for years now and I'm very good at what I do. Let's go take a look at your friend and see what we can do, okay?"

Natsu let out a breath. He knew that she was just trying to reassure him and get him to calm down and trust her, and it was working. Maybe it worked so well because he _wanted_ to trust her and believe that she could magically fix everything.

"Gray," he said. "His name is Gray."

The healer—Sara—nodded as if that was a totally natural response. "Of course. Let's go take a look at Gray. Why don't you tell me about everything that's been going on?"

So Natsu did. As he led her hurriedly through the village, he told her about the desert job and all the signs of heat exhaustion that they had missed and what had happened with the amulet and everything that came after Gray had collapsed. It wasn't a terribly coherent story since he just said whatever came to mind, talking as fast as possible and not particularly caring if his tale jumped around in a ridiculously non-linear fashion.

She followed along the best she could without complaint, only asking the occasional question for clarification. By the time they'd reached the building only a couple minutes later, Natsu had supplied her with a monumental info dump to digest. On the bright side, it meant that she already had a pretty good idea of what to expect when she walked into the sickroom.

She immediately made her way to Gray's side, slipping between Erza and Lucy to get a better look at her patient. Natsu followed behind her like a lost puppy and watched her with hopeful eyes. Surely she could fix this.

"I'm Sara, the healer," she said, sparing a reassuring glance for the others. "I heard that Gray was having seizures? Did he have more than two?"

Erza blinked at her blankly. "Oh, um, yeah, there was another one but he hasn't had one for ten, fifteen minutes. I don't know how much Natsu told you…"

"Quite a lot," Sara remarked absently as she took Gray's vitals. "I heard that he was unconscious and unresponsive but then suddenly started going into seizures?"

"Well, there was a transition."

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked, confused.

Lucy gave him an apologetic look. "It was after you left the first time."

Erza nodded grimly. "Most of the way back to the village he stayed extraordinarily still, but after we got here he eventually started getting more restless. It started off small—he'd just twitch occasionally and his face would scrunch up—but then he started tossing and turning a little and his breathing got really ragged. And then the seizures."

Sara hummed thoughtfully and leaned back to study her patient from more of a distance. Gray was still a little fretful, twisting about in discomfort, his breaths labored as if he was fighting for each one. Natsu glanced away, his fingers curling into helpless fists.

"Well," the healer said, "I can see that he's suffering from severe heat stroke and dehydration, but you're right that there's something else as well. Can you tell me anything else about the nature of the foreign magic he came into contact with? It would be ideal if I could see some of it to get a reading on it, but if nothing else, I need to know if you have any more details other than what…Natsu?...told me."

"We don't know much either," Erza said with a sigh. "The amulet didn't seem that powerful at first, but some idiot managed to unleash all its power at once. It kicked up a huge sandstorm, but Gray used his magic to block the brunt of it so we only saw the watered-down version. It must have used some kind of wind magic, but there was a lot of heat too."

"You know, we do still have that piece of the amulet you found," Lucy said.

Erza stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before the words registered and she nodded sharply. Digging through her pocket, she quickly found the ruby fragment and passed it to the healer.

"I didn't feel any magic coming off of it now that it's broken, but you can take a look at it if you think it might help."

Sara turned the gem over in her hands and studied it carefully. "Just because you didn't sense magic emanating from it doesn't mean that there isn't still an echo, at least. My magic isn't terribly useful for fighting, but I can use it to sound things out. It comes in handy for healing because it lets me get a detailed idea of what's going on inside someone, and it's especially helpful for classifying and detecting different magics. Hopefully I can get a reading off this that will give me a better idea of what it might have done to your friend."

She frowned slightly as she brushed her magic over the gem, probing for any last remnants of magic that it might contain. For a few seconds nothing happened, but then she gasped and jerked back, instinctively dropping the ruby shard. It fell to the ground with a slight clinking sound and lay still. The healer stared at it like one might look at a venomous snake, cradling her hand to her chest.

"What?" Erza asked anxiously. "What happened?"

"I…I don't know." Sara was trying to stay calm and collected so as not to panic them, but she was obviously rattled. "It's like it was making a…bridge. And my magic–" She broke off and shook her head firmly as if to banish the memory of the experience.

"What do you mean, bridge?"

"…I don't know. It might not mean anything. Anyway, I can definitely get a hint of wind magic but it's mostly heat. The wind is just a side piece—it's the heat magic that's going to be the real problem. Even more so since Gray uses ice magic, I suppose. I'm going to take a look at him now."

Natsu frowned, wondering what it was that she didn't want to tell them. Ignoring the bit of amulet on the ground, the healer turned to Gray and let her hands hover just above his chest. A look of intense concentration spread over her face and everyone stayed very quiet so as not to distract her.

It only took a few moments before she sucked in a breath and reeled back, eyeing Gray in alarm.

Natsu wanted to shake her and make her tell them what was wrong. Her reaction had been bad enough when it was to the amulet, but when it was to _Gray_ … Just what was happening to his friend?

"It's all over him. No, it's _inside_ him."

"What?" Natsu demanded, fear making his words harsh. "What's inside him?"

"The magic from the amulet." Sighing, she rubbed a hand over her face wearily. "We have a problem. There were only trace amounts of magic left in the gem, but it was enough for me to get some information from it. It's true that it's primarily a heat-based magic, but it's more than that too. It, um… I guess you could say that it tried to latch on to my magic and attack it."

"Attack your magic?" Happy asked, his face scrunching into a bemused frown.

"Whatever this amulet was, it was meant to be a weapon against mages."

They stared at her uncomprehendingly.

"…What?" Lucy asked finally.

Sara sighed. "I don't know much about the amulet or its history, but I can tell you what I've pieced together from looking at this shard and your friend. The echo from the amulet immediately attacked my magic, but even more than that… I don't know. It hooked into it and used it kind of like a bridge." She grimaced. "It's hard to explain. Look, you know how every mage has a source of power that's sometimes colloquially called the 'magic container'?"

"Yes…" Natsu said slowly, drawing out the word to express his confusion.

"When you use magic, you draw the energy from that 'container'. For shorter spells you might just use a bit and then stop, but if you're doing something bigger then you'll have to keep drawing out energy from your container. In sounding out the magical resonance of the ruby, I was pushing a steady stream of magic into it.

"The amulet's magic attacked my magic and tried to shred it, but then it also tried to use it to piggyback its way back to my magic container. If you're channeling a constant stream of magic then there's a string of magic connecting you to whatever it is you're channeling that magic into. The amulet basically tried to grab that string and follow it all the way back to my magic container. The echo was so weak that it probably couldn't have done much and I was able to stop it easily, but if it had still been stronger…"

Natsu swallowed hard. "Then Gray…"

She frowned and nodded. "You told me that he had to continually channel magic into the shield he made. It's possible that his magic was impaired due to the heat stroke and that's why he wasn't able to maintain the shield without constantly pushing more magic into it, or maybe he was having a hard time because the amulet was actively attacking it. Whatever the case, the problem is that if he was doing that, it would have given the amulet's magic easy access to him via the magic 'string' I was talking about.

"And because of that, he would have been double-whammied. The amulet's magic would have been attacking any of his magic it came into contact with and it also piggybacked its way back to his magic container. It attacks the magic from the outside and the mage from the inside out. I've never seen anything like it."

There was dead silence as everyone tried to digest that. Natsu wasn't sure he entirely understood. He'd never heard of a magic doing anything like that, but mostly he was worried about what it might mean for Gray.

"I was stuck out in the sandstorm for quite a while," he said finally. "And it hurt like hell, but I didn't feel anything like that. Neither did anyone else."

"But did you use any magic against the amulet's storm?"

"No," he admitted.

"Then that would be why. The amulet would be a formidable weapon against everyone—even without all the odd things I was talking about, it could still whip up sandstorms and blistering heat—but it also has an extra feature to target mages, specifically mages that try to use magic against it."

"Hm, you know how the ancient tribe from the legend used the amulet to conquer and control all the other tribes?" Lucy asked. There was something a little wrong about her voice, something oddly detached. "And how this village has no mages? I bet a lot of the other desert tribes don't have mages anymore either. Any mages that tried to fight back against the amulet would have suffered severe effects, so they probably stopped using magic entirely because of the danger and then didn't pass it on to the next generation. I bet a lot of that magic potential went dormant. It might be there, but no one uses it because they were never taught how."

"Who the hell cares?" Natsu snarled.

This was definitely not the time to be making up stupid theories about long-dead people. Not while Gray's life was hanging in the balance.

Lucy looked up at him and he immediately regretted his harsh words when he saw her eyes swimming with tears. He realized that she was just trying to make sense of this new information, looking for a way to understand it so that it didn't feel so alien and frightening. Just like Natsu had needed to leave to cope with the situation, Lucy needed to distract herself with theories and rationalizations.

"Sorry, Lucy," he mumbled.

She nodded and looked away.

"Can you fix it?" Happy asked Sara.

"That's the problem," she said, frustration and regret flickering across her face for a moment. "The amulet's magic is inside him now. It's not that it's trying to kill him, exactly. It's just doing what it's meant to do: attack any foreign magic it comes into contact with.

"He may actually have been saved by the fact that he had already used up so much of his magic. Since he had less magic inside him, the amulet pushed less magic into him to destroy it. But now it's a problem because he's already weakened from heat stroke and doesn't have much magic left, so he's having a hard time fighting off the foreign magic that did get inside him."

Gray sucked in a shuddering breath and let it out with a low whine, his face contorting into a grimace as his fingers curved, claw-like, and scrabbled weakly at the bedding. His limbs jerked convulsively and Natsu watched anxiously to see if he would start seizing again, but then he fell back, limp. He stilled, but his breathing remained labored and the muscles of his face stayed tightened in pain.

Natsu swallowed hard. "Is he going to keep doing that? When is he going to wake up? It can't actually destroy all his magic, can it?"

The healer sighed. "It's going to be an all-or-nothing battle—either Gray's magic will destroy all of the amulet's magic or the amulet's magic will annihilate all of his."

"That sounds really bad…" Lucy whispered.

"It's a dangerous situation, but not a lost cause," Sara said firmly, working to do some damage control. "Your friend can still fight it off. It's probably better that he's more restless now, actually. The seizures aren't ideal, but it's better than having him go completely comatose and still. I think the reason he's become more active is because his magic has been slowly regenerating and it's putting up more of a fight now. As his magic continues to recuperate, his movements might become more violent. I'd be more worried if he stopped moving entirely."

Natsu eyed Gray doubtfully. He wasn't sure that he wanted to see his friend thrashing about even more. It was painful to watch.

"But can you help him?" Happy pressed. "You never answered that."

The healer stayed silent for a moment, and it was clear that she didn't want to tell them whatever it was she needed to say. Natsu's heart sank. He had been so sure that she would be able to help.

"The problem is that the foreign magic inside him is still viable," she said finally. "If I try to use my magic on him then the amulet's magic will still attack it and try to use it as a bridge to get at the magic inside me. I have healing charms I could try that aren't directly linked to my magic, but they might make things worse. The amulet would attack their magic too and might damage Gray further in the process.

"I can use non-magical methods to treat his heat stroke and try relieving some of the symptoms he's experiencing, which will help strengthen him. The thing is, I can help him indirectly but he needs to fight the amulet's magic on his own."

Natsu felt a crushing sense of disappointment and anxiety. At this point, it was looking like no one could help Gray. And it wasn't even like they could send for Wendy and hope she got here in time, because when she arrived they would run into the same exact problem.

"What are his chances?" Erza asked quietly, bowing her head.

Natsu sucked in a breath and had the sudden desire to leave the room again. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to hear everyone talk as if Gray might actually die.

Sara hesitated a moment. "I don't want to worry you, but you also need an idea of the severity of the situation. He's already in a horribly weakened state and this amulet is strong. If he wins and gets rid of the foreign magic then he should hopefully be fine, although I don't know if there might be some kind of lasting damage to his magic container or magic or even his body. If he's too weakened to expel the amulet's magic…he'll probably die.

"His odds… They aren't that good. But don't give up yet. As long as he's still fighting, he has a chance. I'll go ahead and do what I can for him, and I won't leave until he's fought this off and started recuperating."

That was even worse than Natsu had thought. It wasn't like this was the first time that Gray or another team member had come close to dying, but this time seemed even worse. Maybe it was because Natsu had the nagging feeling that this was at least partly his fault. And even ignoring that, the whole situation was made worse by the fact that it had basically been turned into a waiting game. That feeling of helplessness, of knowing that the situation was not only out of their control but that they didn't even have a way to _try_ controlling it, lay heavy over the room.

Natsu stayed quiet as Sara gave Gray a thorough non-magical examination and did what she could. She redressed the wounds he had received in the fight and found a lump on his head that worried her for its concussion-potential. The stupid idiot hadn't bothered telling them about that either. The villagers' healer had already done her best to take care of Gray's heat-related symptoms, although Sara double-checked everything and got creative in finding ways to keep him hydrated while he remained unconscious.

And unconscious he stayed throughout the entire process. He would still sometimes twitch or spasm, but his movements weren't as violent as they had been earlier and he didn't go into any more seizures. Natsu wasn't sure if he should be grateful or worried.

When the healer had finished, she stepped back to survey her handiwork. "I think I've got him stabilized for the moment. It's getting a little late at this point, but you should certainly call me if anything changes or he starts seizing again."

"We have prepared your normal room for you," Desert Hawk told her. He'd been so quiet and unobtrusive that Natsu had totally forgotten that he was there at all.

Sara smiled tiredly. "Thanks. I'll be staying right down the hall. Shout if you need anything. Now, pardon me, but I'm exhausted."

The team mumbled their thank-you's as she slipped out of the room. Natsu hadn't realized it, but he did suppose that it must be evening by now. It felt more like an eternity had passed. His stomach rumbled mutinously, a reminder that he'd been too distracted to eat anything all day.

"It has been a long day," Desert Hawk said, looking around at the ring of exhausted, defeated faces. "Come eat."

"You all can go ahead," Erza muttered. "I'll stay here in case he goes into more seizures or something."

"She will stay." The village leader gestured to the old woman by his side. Natsu had totally forgotten that she was still there too. "You are all exhausted from your battle and from worrying about your friend. Come take a few minutes to eat a meal."

Erza reluctantly agreed and the team trailed forlornly after Desert Hawk to the dining room. Natsu was starving, but he found himself picking at his food. Somehow it didn't seem all that appetizing at the moment.

It was as they were finishing their meal that Desert Hawk informed them that the rescued villagers and their captives had arrived safely a couple hours earlier. Huh. Natsu had totally forgotten about them too. And he didn't particularly care at the moment. The job no longer seemed terribly important, not when Gray was lying unconscious in the other room, certainly _not_ dying but still in danger.

Erza closed her eyes briefly and sighed. "I'll take care of it. If I leave now then I should be able to get to town just in time to send a message to a Council representative. I'll take the treasure hunters with me, hopefully get them turned into the Council sometime in the morning, and be back here by the afternoon."

Natsu stared at her in disbelief. He had a hard time believing that she really wanted to leave now when Gray was in critical condition—she hadn't even wanted to come to dinner. But maybe it was like it had been with Natsu earlier and she just needed to get out for a while. He took in her unhappy expression and discarded that idea. More likely it was because she was their de facto leader and it fell on her to make sure that they weren't neglecting their responsibilities, even with how worried they were about Gray.

"Make sure that someone stays with him at all times," she ordered. Her gaze drifted down the hall where Gray was and she let out a shuddering breath. "He'd better not have the nerve to die while I'm not here."

And without sparing them another glance, she took off, walking quickly away with her head bowed and her fists clenched at her sides. Natsu watched until she disappeared and then sighed. He hoped that the treasure hunters didn't try anything on her—she was stressed out enough that they could get themselves seriously injured if they decided to play games.

"It's getting late," Natsu said into the silence Erza left in her wake. "Why don't you go get some sleep, Lucy?"

"But–"

"I'll stay with him."

"Can you… Can you handle it?" she asked, biting her lip. "I mean, you could barely stay in the same room earlier."

Natsu frowned at the ground. "Exactly. You stayed with him earlier when I left, so now I'll stay with him."

"But–"

"I'll stay too," Happy chimed in, giving Natsu a sidelong look. "Don't worry about it, Lucy."

Lucy hesitated a moment longer before giving in and plodding off wearily to the room she and Erza had shared before. Natsu nodded to Desert Hawk and headed back to the infirmary, Happy fluttering along beside him. They waved off the old woman who had been keeping watch while they ate and then lapsed into silence, neither in the mood for talking.

Natsu eventually just told the little cat to get some sleep, rebutting Happy's protests with the argument that someone was going to have to stay with Gray tomorrow and there wasn't any point having them both exhausted now. The Exceed was too restless to fall asleep right away, but eventually he curled himself into a ball and his breathing evened out.

Natsu stayed sitting in a chair he had dragged in, shifting about frequently because he was too antsy to stay still. After some indeterminate length of time had passed, he stood to stretch his muscles and was automatically drawn towards Gray. The darkness shrouding the room helped cloak some of the worst of it, the shadows concealing the ice mage's pained expression and softening the strange mix of deathly white and red flush of his skin. If Natsu held a hand to hover just above his friend's skin then he could feel the heat radiating from it. That was just wrong. Gray should never be that hot.

"You're really stupid, you know," Natsu said, his quiet words still sounding loud in the silence. "Like, seriously. I hope you know that I'm going to punch you in the face as soon as you wake up. And we are most definitely going to have words. I'm sure Erza's already planning out a lecture for you.

"You're really scaring them, you know—the girls and Happy. They're really worried. I'm not though, not really. You're too stubborn to die."

He fell silent and stared down at his friend. Gray didn't move.

"You need to wake up already. This isn't funny anymore. It never was, really. It's really annoying that you won't wake up and of course you'd take advantage of that to irritate me, but stop it. Just…wake up."

He watched Gray hopefully, even though he knew it was stupid to think that his demands would be met. Still, wizards seemed to attract miracles and this would be a damn good time for another one. Surely Gray would just wake up and laugh at Natsu for being so dumb and then throw in an annoying comment for good measure.

But no, Gray's eyes didn't open and he didn't stir. Only his chest moved, rising and falling slightly with each breath. His breathing was softer and shallower than earlier, but still tortured as if it was a struggle.

"Don't you dare die on me, ice block," Natsu whispered, swallowing hard. "I will kill you myself if you do something so stupid."

He gave up and turned away. Gray wasn't waking up, and looking at him hurt. And it felt kind of creepy to just watch him sleep. So Natsu settled back in his chair again to wait. He still had the rest of the night ahead of him.

He lasted for quite a while, but eventually his exhaustion started catching up to him and he began drifting in and out of sleep. He had to keep shaking himself awake, but he continued falling asleep anyway.

Then he woke up again and something was different.

He wasn't sure what at first. It wasn't so much that there had been a sound that had woken him, more like it had suddenly gotten too quiet. He frowned and listened carefully, sorting out all the slight sounds in the room with his enhanced hearing. He quickly isolated Happy's deep, even breaths and pushed them to the side. Other than that… There was something missing.

Natsu took a deep breath and held it. Now that his breathing was out of the picture he could still make out Happy's exhalations, but that was it. There was nothing else. Stumbling to his feet, he hurried to the bed and shoved his ear against Gray's chest.

Nothing. Gray wasn't breathing.

Natsu dropped all pretenses and panicked.

* * *

 **Note: Yeah... This is about the point where the title becomes something of a misnomer. This is what I get for taking a couple months off of writing this story after last chapter and then coming back to it. Somehow I ended up with an idea to take the rest of the story in a totally different direction... Well, it actually tied in well with a couple things I'd written in ch 10 that really had no explanation, at least.**

 **So, this seems like as good a time as any to announce that I've kind of lost the motivation for this story. I think I'm going to take a break for a while until I feel better about it. Sorry, guys :/ But hey, hopefully I'll see you again in a few months.**

 **...Oh my gosh, I'm joking, I'm joking, please don't kill me XD The next chapter will be out in a few days :3**

 **emmahoshi: Come and let us be heartless together lol Ha, yeah, that's why I rewrote part of last chapter's ending in Natsu's POV, that and because Gray was so out of it that he missed some stuff that Natsu would know. Yeah, Erza's a champ at trying to keep things together when everyone else is panicking. Ha ha, apologize to that villager at once! Every once in a while the utilitarian OCs I include do have a purpose ; ) (Hey, did you see I named one? That's a first lol I tried not to, but the epithets got really awkward and made me want to claw my eyes out.) Two for the price of one: double the sadism for your enjoyment. Ha, I'd like to keep Gray around for suffering purposes too : )**


	12. Gray is made aware of the situation

**Note: Uh, sorry I almost gave a bunch of you a heart attack last chapter? It has come to my attention that not everyone appreciates my sense of humor as much as I do ; ) But I still spent a long time cackling like a hyena as I read the reviews. Because I'm a sadist. You're welcome.**

 **And honestly, why are you all panicking? I did say that 10 and 11 were the main climactic chapters... (Okay, so I might have killed Gray off once or twice before and am planning on doing so again in the future. But still. Oh ye of little faith.)**

 **Also, there were a lot of super sweet guest reviews last chapter and I can't just PM you guys because you're anons : ( It would take too much space to respond to everything individually, but I'll quickly address a few questions and comments: Don't worry, I like to put Gray through trauma too (clearly); if I saved the joke for April 1st then I wouldn't have gotten such a great reaction (and putting readers in critical condition is practically my goal in life); I actually do have a couple super angsty pieces coming up, but the one-shots with Gray, Cana, and Loke are really low priority at the moment because I'm writing another multichapter and have a bunch more projects lined up (sorry, I love them too); I don't know Tekken, sorry :/; I'm glad to be able to give you something to look forward to after school XD; I _would_ actually kill him, but not this time (you're welcome); all comments are important and I appreciate them all, and your English is good enough (I studied Spanish for years and still can't speak it—you can't be worse than me lol). Anyway, y'all were really sweet and I appreciated it : ) Thanks, guys.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 _(In which Gray is finally made aware of the situation.)_

* * *

Gray pried his eyes open and stared blankly upwards, trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Everything hurt and he had no idea where he was and his mind was so foggy that he didn't even know where to start detangling the mess inside his head.

He was inside, which was odd because…because… Because he had been stuck out in the desert. Yes, he vaguely recalled that. Natsu had dragged them out on that desert job and they'd gotten lost. He also had some hazy recollection of heat exhaustion setting in and of attacking the treasure hunters, but the details were fuzzy. Oh, and there had been something with that stupid amulet too.

And then… And then it was a big blank. He searched for any more details, but it just made his head hurt and he didn't come up with much. He must have passed out or something. Well. That sucked. He had been hoping that maybe he'd be able to actually complete a desert job properly for once.

Come to think of it, this looked an awful lot like that building in the village. He wondered if he'd made it back here before collapsing, but quickly dismissed that idea. He'd certainly have at least some half-formed memory of the trip back if that was the case. With his luck, all he had managed to do was collapse and freak out his friends, who had then brought him here.

Now that he was slightly less disoriented, Gray carefully tried sitting up, only to fall back with a hiss of pain. He must've bruised some ribs, his head was throbbing dully, and he still felt tired and weak from the heat. He was sore all over, but mostly what bothered him was that there was something clawing at his insides, trying to burn its way through his skin.

"You're awake."

He managed to wriggle into a halfway-sitting position, shoving the pillow up against the head of the bed to lean on so that he wouldn't topple right back over, and turned his attention to Natsu. The dragon slayer and Happy were sitting several feet away, staring at him in disbelief. Gray shifted uncomfortably, wondering why they looked like they'd just seen a ghost or something.

"You're really awake," Natsu repeated, still sounding vaguely stunned.

"I sure hope so," Gray said dryly, arching an eyebrow at the odd behavior. He winced as his voice rasped painfully against his throat, but pushed on even though it was a miracle he could still talk at all. "Otherwise this is one hell of a vivid dream, and you annoy me enough when I'm awake. I'd rather not have to deal with you in my sleep too."

He was expecting a snarky comment or even an angry demand as to why he hadn't told them how poorly he was doing before he collapsed, but Natsu just continued to stare at him like he'd just risen from the dead. Gray was starting to get the feeling that maybe he was missing something here.

Then Happy launched himself through the air, a blue blur that slammed into Gray's chest. Biting back a grunt of pain, Gray wrapped one arm around the feline and peered down at him worriedly.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern. "Are you okay?"

Happy sniffled loudly. "Am _I_ okay? _I'm_ not the one who's been unconscious for nearly five days."

It took a second for Gray to make the connection, but then his eyes widened. " _Five days_?"

This was hardly the first time he'd had heat stroke and collapsed, but he had never been unconscious for nearly that long. It was absurd. Then again, perhaps it had something to do with whatever was wrong inside him.

"Nearly. And with all the seizures and how bad you got…"

Seizures? No wonder Natsu and Happy were acting so weird. Five days of unconsciousness plus seizures was enough to worry everyone for sure. Even Natsu, apparently.

"Well, don't worry," Gray said, patting the Exceed's head reassuringly. "I'm up now and everything's fine."

That wasn't entirely true—even aside from the lingering effects of the heat stroke, there was still something screwed up inside him and he was getting a bad feeling about it—but he needed Happy to calm down. He didn't like to see his friends so worked up, and he winced as he realized that these would have been a really rough past few days for them.

"Happy, why don't you go tell everyone that Gray's awake," Natsu said, his voice strangely devoid of emotion.

"Oh yeah, they'll definitely want to know." Happy wriggled out of Gray's grasp, but paused to stare at him solemnly for a moment. "I'm glad you're finally awake."

Then he took off out the doorway, calling for the others. Gray stared after him in bemusement for a second before turning to look at Natsu again. The dragon slayer was still watching him with a funny expression, and something about his demeanor was so un-Natsu-like that it was unsettling.

"Wow, you look terrible," Gray remarked, frowning as he took in the dark circles underneath his friend's eyes and the haggard, gaunt cast to his face. "Not that you were ever much of a looker to start with, but you should take better care of yourself. You look like you haven't slept in a week."

Natsu smiled humorlessly. "That's not too far from the truth, actually." Anger flashed in his eyes suddenly, and Gray relaxed a little because at least that was more normal. "And just where do you get off lecturing me about taking care of myself after all that stupid shit you pulled? Please tell me how, exactly, you were taking care of yourself, because I sure didn't see it. Besides," he added with a huff, "you aren't any better. You look like death warmed over."

Gray fought back the urge to wince. He wasn't really surprised that Natsu—and the others as well, he supposed—were upset that he'd hidden all the signs of heat exhaustion and kept going until he passed out. If one of his friends had done something that stupid then Gray wouldn't be happy with them either. At the same time, that was all still kind of a hazy mess to him and he'd rather postpone the inevitable confrontation.

"I feel like it too," he muttered instead.

"That's not too far from the truth either." Natsu's hands clenched into fists, although Gray wasn't sure if he was aware of it. "You stopped breathing and your heart stopped. Twice. You weren't breathing and you were basically dead and it was a miracle that we could resuscitate you. You basically died twice. You're like…like…like a zombie."

His voice wavered slightly, halfway between grief and anger. It was worrisome and maybe Gray should also be more concerned about the assertion that he'd died, but he couldn't help but laugh, even though it grated at his throat and sent pain shooting out from his injured ribs.

"A zombie!" he chortled, absently noting that Happy had returned with the rest of the team and some random girl with a mass of curly red hair, all of whom were now hesitating in the doorway. "On the bright side, at least you're safe since you don't have any brains."

Natsu stared at him in disbelief for a moment and then scowled, the temperature of the air rising slightly as his fury flared up. Taking a few clipped strides forward, he stopped by the side of the bed and glowered down at Gray.

"It's not fucking _funny_. You died and then you wouldn't wake up and we didn't know if you ever would. And you had better shut the hell up right now. The last time you started laughing like a crazy maniac, you started mumbling weird shit about water and Juvia and then collapsed."

Gray had stopped laughing now that the nervous urge that had prompted it had faded away. He frowned slightly in bewilderment instead, trying to puzzle out the last bit.

"Juvia? Why would I–? Oh." Searching through his shattered recollections, he could vaguely remember thinking something about Juvia back when he'd tried to use his magic and ended up with water instead. Which was about the last thing he remembered, so he supposed that Natsu was right about the collapsing thing. "I didn't realize I said that out loud."

"Oh yeah, you were muttering all sorts of stupid crap while you were laughing like you'd gone fucking insane or something. What the hell was so damn funny, huh? And then you just fell over. We thought it was because of the amulet, until the guide started going on about heat stroke. And we thought that was the stupidest thing, because _surely_ you would have said something if things were getting that bad." Natsu glared at him resentfully, and Gray winced at the bitter accusation in the words. "But then we put together all the pieces about how you hadn't been eating or sleeping and how all that 'tripping' would be an awfully convenient cover for passing out.

"And you wouldn't wake up, so we rushed you back here and even had to call in another healer because it turned out that you got messed up by the amulet too. You were so still that you looked like a goddamn corpse, and then you started having seizures instead. Seizures! And you were just writhing around, but then you started getting all still again and you stopped breathing. And even after that, you stopped breathing again the next day and you're damn lucky that we managed to bring you back. But then you _still_ wouldn't wake up. Almost five days. Five days! And then–"

"Flame brain."

Gray's voice was quiet, but Natsu broke off immediately and stared at him, rambling tirade forgotten. Gray mostly just needed him to shut up because even though he sounded angry, the underlying edge of fear and grief was still there. Gray didn't like it.

Sighing, he closed his eyes and slumped back against the pillow. "I get it. Look, I'm not trying to trivialize what happened. My brain is still pretty screwed up and, honestly, I'm tired of you giving me those looks and being so freaked out."

"I'm not freaked out," Natsu protested.

Gray opened his eyes and fixed his friend with a steady look. "I understand that I must have freaked everyone out. Yes, I should have said something as soon as signs of heat exhaustion started cropping up, instead of waiting until my brain was so fried that I couldn't make rational decisions anymore. Yeah, it was stupid and caused a lot of problems and ended up scaring everyone. I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry."

" _You're_ sorry?" Natsu half laughed, although it was brittle and almost verged on a sob instead. Gray eyed him in alarm. " _I'm_ sorry."

Wow, things must have gotten pretty bad if he was apologizing to Gray of all people. Gray wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Something was tugging at the edge of his mind, a reason for why Natsu might feel bad about things, but he didn't have time to wait for his sluggish brain to figure it out.

Forcing himself to lean over slightly despite the protests of his ribs and the weakness pervading his body, he punched Natsu in the arm. The dragon slayer reeled back a half-step in surprise and blinked at him in bafflement.

"What the hell?" Crossing his arms, Natsu rolled his eyes and Gray was relieved to see some of his normal attitude returning. "That was so pathetically weak it wasn't even funny."

Gray huffed out a weary laugh and fell back against the pillow again. "Come back in a few days and I'll happily beat you into the ground. I'm too tired right now."

"Ha! As if you could beat me, ice princess. I'll totally take you out."

"You might have to get in line." Gray nodded to the doorway behind his friend, a resigned smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Natsu turned, smiling sheepishly as he finally realized that they had company. Now that they didn't feel like they were interrupting anything, the girls crossed the room to join him by the bedside, and Happy hopped up onto the bed and settled beside Gray. They were all giving the ice mage looks somewhere between relief and worry and irritation.

"Hey, guys," Gray said, wincing as his scratchy voice died out of its own accord. He cleared his throat. "How's it going?"

"Thank goodness you finally woke up," Lucy breathed, her shoulders slumping as tension drained from her body.

"Wanna join the party and yell at me?" Gray asked, grinning at her and Erza.

"I think Natsu probably said enough for the moment," Erza replied. She let out a breath and then smiled at him. "I planned out a whole long lecture for when you woke up, but for now I'm just glad that you're alright."

The strange girl he'd noticed earlier drifted across the room and paused by his side. He arched a questioning eyebrow at her.

"I don't believe we've met."

She smiled faintly. "Not while you were awake, anyway. I'm Sara and I've been looking after you for the past few days. I'm a healer."

"Oh. Thanks."

She shrugged it off and handed him a cup of water. His first instinct was to chug it all down because _damn_ was he thirsty, but he restrained himself. He knew from experience what would happen if he did that.

"Sip at it slowly," Sara cautioned. "Don't drink it all at once."

"Don't worry, I know the drill," Gray said dryly, sipping at the water. The almost-cool liquid was soothing on his raw throat. "I'd rather not make myself sick again."

"How are you feeling?" Lucy asked anxiously, looking him up and down as if he might drop dead at any second.

"Alright, all things considered."

Sara gave him a knowing look. "It's one thing trying not to worry your friends, but it will be much easier to treat you if you're just honest with me."

Gray blinked at her for a second and then grinned crookedly. "Point taken."

"Now that you're awake, I'd like to take another look at some of your injuries, if you don't mind. Starting with those ribs of yours."

He nodded his agreement and leaned forward a little so that she could unwrap the bandages from his chest. Biting back a hiss of pain, he glanced down curiously, wondering how bad the damage was. Right now, all he knew was that it hurt like hell to take anything deeper than the shallowest of breaths.

"Did I crack them or are they just bruised?"

"Two are broken. Everything else is just severely bruised," she replied absently, pressing her fingers lightly against his chest.

He grimaced at the stab of pain that elicited, but then forced a smile. "Well, it could be worse."

"Yeah," Natsu muttered darkly. "You could be dead."

Gray almost wanted to laugh at that, but wisely decided against it. He didn't think Natsu would take it well if he did that again. And anyway, laughing just made his ribs hurt more, so he chose to ignore the comment.

"How _are_ you feeling, then?" Happy asked.

Gray sighed but considered the question. He had the feeling that someone was going to start yelling if they thought he was hiding things again, so he took a second to sort through all the sensations in his body.

"Weak," he said finally. "Really weak."

Lucy winced. "Gray, you're not–"

"No, I mean literally weak." He smiled, half in amusement and half apologetically, as he realized how he sounded. "I'm just really exhausted and drained and everything feels like it takes a lot of effort right now. And if I stood up, I might just keel right back over again."

No one looked terribly reassured by that, although it could hardly be a surprise.

"Anything else?" Erza asked.

"I feel like I have two broken ribs and a bunch more bruised ones, a sprained ankle, and various other injuries. And like I managed to get myself into a heap of trouble with heat stroke again. And…" He paused and pursed his lips.

 _And like there's something wrong with my insides, like there's a fire in my chest trying to burn me alive that might be doing something to my magic_. But he didn't want to say that. Maybe it was because he didn't want to freak out his friends. Maybe it was because it was scaring him and once he brought it out into the open and acknowledged it, it would seem more real.

"And hot," he said instead. "It's hot in here and I'm still overheated."

"Welcome to the desert," Natsu said, rolling his eyes. "Of course it's hot."

"No duh. Why do you think I didn't want to come?"

Natsu winced and Gray tried to figure out what he'd said to upset his friend again. Then the healer started wrapping new bandages around his ribs and the pain instantly distracted him. Gritting his teeth, he waited until she finished and moved on to examine his other, less painful, injuries.

"Is there anything else?" she asked, pausing to study his face carefully.

"Nothing much else," he mumbled, forcing himself not to look away. She frowned at him, and he wondered how much she knew or suspected. He smiled halfheartedly and then glanced over at his friends again. "So, what did I miss?"

They exchanged looks that he found impossible to decipher, aside from an almost haunted quality that he didn't like.

"How much do you remember?" Erza asked carefully.

Gray sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment to dig through his memory. "Hard to say. My brain's still all jumbled up. Bits and pieces of a lot of things, I guess. Hm, I do remember that I missed the start signal and was late to the fight. And… Oh yeah, my molding was so terrible that I eventually gave up on it altogether." He shook his head, his mouth twisting sourly. "Most pathetic magic I've ever done. But I still got the villagers to the meeting spot and then… I stumbled across the leader, and he couldn't take the loss so he somehow managed to unleash all of the amulet's power and nearly killed everyone."

He paused and frowned, losing his train of thought. The amulet. Of course. Whatever it was that was wrong inside him must come from the damn amulet. What else could it be from? He was a little embarrassed that it had taken him so long to make the connection.

"And then?" Lucy asked, eyeing him in concern.

Her voice startled Gray out of his thoughts but he recovered quickly, smiling reassuringly as if he hadn't just completely lost focus and basically forgotten that his friends were there. Apparently his brain hadn't fully recovered from the heat stroke yet.

"And then I…put up a shield." He nodded to himself. It had been a pretty messed up shield, but a shield nonetheless. "But my magic was so weak by that point that it couldn't withstand the amulet's magic unless I stayed with the shield. Eventually I couldn't maintain it anymore and there was…a giant sandstorm? Yeah, and I thought I was hallucinating things again, but the flame-brained idiot really did come back and somehow get us out of the city.

"Everything around that is really hazy, but eventually we were supposed to be looking for…looking for…" He frowned and it took him a few seconds to come up with the answer. "Any leftover pieces of the amulet. Yeah, that must've been it. Except that I, uh, wasn't really looking. And then you were calling me so I came back, but I must've been really out of it. I mostly just remember seeing how screwed up my magic was and then laughing about it for no good reason and then… Nothing. I guess I passed out."

He swirled the water around in the cup for a moment before sighing and taking another sip. "You'll have to fill me in on the rest."

"Mostly it was just a lot of waiting," Erza said quietly. "I actually did find a piece of the amulet, but then you collapsed and it all went to hell. We thought that you were more injured than you let on when you lost control of your shield, but then we found out that you had heat stroke too. We rushed you back here as quickly as we could, just stopping to pick up the village healer in case she could help with the heat stroke." She winced. "We just left the villagers to handle getting the treasure hunters back on their own. Thankfully it all worked out.

"Anyway, you kept alternating between being really restless and really still, and then you had quite a few seizures over the next few days and stopped breathing twice. Sara managed to revive you because she's a miracle worker. But yeah, we've mostly just been waiting for you to wake up."

Gray had the feeling that she was downplaying some things, although he wasn't sure if she was actually trying to hide something or was just glossing over how upset everyone had been.

"Yeah," he said, forcing a wan smile even though he didn't really feel like smiling. "Sorry I screwed up the job."

"It's okay," Lucy said quickly, wringing her hands together. "You didn't, really. The job was basically over by then, and you were the one who managed to buy us enough time to get out of the city anyway. And really, we're just glad that you're awake and okay."

"And don't worry, I took care of tying up the loose ends," Erza added. "The villagers made it back alright and then I took the treasure hunters into town and turned them over to the Council."

Something was tugging at his mind again, conjured up by something Erza had said.

"The treasure hunters…" he mumbled, his brow wrinkling in thought. Then it hit him and he let out a breath. "Fuck. I really screwed that up."

It took the others a second to figure out what he was talking about, but then Erza winced.

"It's not your fault, Gray," she said, trying to soothe him. "You did what you could. You're the only reason that _any_ of them made it out."

"You don't get it." Gray sighed harshly and stared down moodily at the cup grasped in his hands. "I knew I wasn't in any shape to fight and that it could get someone hurt. I should have said something because I knew it was a mistake, but I didn't. Seriously, I could barely even mold by that point and my magic was ridiculously weak. If I had been at full strength I could have held that shield long enough for everyone to get out, but… I _should have_ been able to hold that shield for long enough."

No one responded immediately, and the silence weighed on him heavily even though he knew that his friends wouldn't agree with his assessment. After a moment, Happy crept a little closer and pressed up against him. Gray tried to smile and didn't bother complaining that the feline was basically a little furnace and was just overheating him more. He absently ran his fingers through the Exceed's fur anyway.

"You still saved a lot of people," Happy said quietly. "All of the villagers made it out and most of the treasure hunters and _us_. I think that's still something to be proud of."

"To be honest, it's pretty amazing that you did so much," Erza said, smiling sadly. "And if anything, I think it makes you ridiculously strong rather than weak. That you were already so weakened by heat stroke but could still hold on for so long? That's amazing and it shows how strong you really are. I doubt most people could have held out for that long." Her voice hardened as she added, "But you will _never_ do that again, do you hear me? Next time you'll tell us what's going on instead of trying to handle it all yourself and then pulling something sacrificial on us."

"Yeah," Gray mumbled.

He knew that they were right, just didn't like knowing that he could have saved those last two treasure hunters if he hadn't been so weak. But still, he had done everything in his power to save whoever he could and he had, in fact, managed to buy most people enough time to escape. That was still a victory. A bittersweet victory, but a victory nonetheless.

"And in any case, it wasn't only because you were weakened by the heat," Sara broke in. After finishing her ministrations she had stayed quiet and a little off to the side so that the friends could speak uninterrupted, but now she'd found something to say. "The amulet's magic was designed to attack any magic it came into contact with, so it would have been doing a number on your shield the whole time you were trying to maintain it."

That made sense based on what hazy snippets Gray could remember, but it was still a little odd. It was also making a nebulous idea form in his mind and the implications were frightening, so he tried to ignore it.

"Huh, maybe that's why I could feel it," he said instead. "I thought it was weird that I could feel it all anyway."

"Feel what?" Erza asked with a frown.

"I could feel all of the attacks on my shield," he muttered absently. "Like it was attacking me instead."

Lucy sucked in a breath and Gray was vaguely aware that his friends were exchanging meaningful looks, but he was too distracted to bother trying to figure them out.

"Attacking you?" Lucy repeated carefully.

"Yeah." Gray took as deep a breath as his injured ribs would allow and let it out slowly. Staring down at the water in his hands again so that he didn't have to look at his friends, he steeled himself to ask the question that he had been trying to ignore this whole time. "What is it doing to my magic?"

There was instant silence, but then Lucy chuckled nervously. "Like Sara said, it would have been attacking your shield and–"

"No," he interrupted, "what is it doing to my magic _now_?"

"Now? Is it still…? I thought that since you were awake it must be over…"

"You can still feel it?" Sara asked.

Gray nodded silently and didn't look up. He'd put off asking this question for so long because he didn't want to know the answer, and his friends' reactions were only confirming that he was right to be worried.

"What does it feel like?" Natsu asked abruptly, finally speaking up again.

Gray stayed quiet for a moment. "Like there's a fire in my chest trying to eat me from the inside out, and it's doing something to my magic."

Natsu let out a breath and Gray could hear the girls shifting around uneasily. He had almost forgotten that he was still petting Happy absently until he felt the Exceed tense up under his hand.

"And what do you think it might be doing to your magic?" Sara asked quietly.

Gray closed his eyes briefly. "I think that it's trying to destroy it as completely as possible."

"Shit, I thought you must have already beaten it," Natsu muttered.

Gray risked glancing up at his friends again and immediately regretted it. Their expressions ranged from worried to unhappy to scared, and that just made him even more fearful about what might be happening to him. He found it easier to focus on the healer instead—at least she was trying to hide how worried she was.

"I suppose that doing a magical examination is still out of the question then," she said with a sigh. "Normally I would have done one right away, but there was still so much heat radiating from you that I thought there might still be some of that magic lingering around."

He frowned slightly, not seeing the connection. "I don't understand."

She sighed again and then launched into a fantastic story of magical 'strings' and bridges and magic meant to destroy any other magic it ran into. It all seemed vaguely absurd, but the pieces fit too nicely with what had happened and what he had been feeling. That didn't mean that he really wanted to accept it though. He didn't like the thought of something messing around with his magic, and was afraid that there would be problems even if he won out in the end.

When Sara finished her tale, Gray stared at her for a moment and then inwardly panicked. He automatically reached out for his magic, needing to know that it was still there and he could still use it and it hadn't been reduced to mere _water_. He managed to catch hold of it and tease it out, but it was just as he was starting to relax in relief that the foreign magic inside him reacted, viciously attacking his own magic and sending shooting pains throughout his body.

He yelped, falling back as his limbs spasmed suddenly of their own accord, sending a startled Happy flying off the bed. Squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth, Gray rode out the waves of pain, locking his limbs and pressing them into the mattress to keep them still. Trying to get at his own magic had only stirred up the amulet's, and it lashed out with renewed vigor now. He could feel it trying to shred his magic, could feel the echoes of that as pain arcing through his body. Almost worse was the heat that ratcheted up several notches until he wanted to claw off his skin in a vain attempt to get it out.

He was vaguely aware that his friends were panicking again, but his mind was so wrapped up in the pain that he couldn't even think about reassuring them until everything had settled back down to a more bearable level. After several long seconds, he let out a heavy sigh and let his body go limp again. The aching heat was still there, but mostly he just felt heavy and tired now, like the pain had sapped all his energy.

"I'm okay," he mumbled, waving off the others. He glanced over at Happy and winced. "Sorry."

"It's okay." The Exceed hopped back up onto the bed and sidled over to his side again. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Gray forced a smile. "Yup, I'm fine."

"But what happened?" Erza pressed, twisting her hands together. "You looked like you might start having seizures again. What is the amulet–?"

"Relax. I just did something stupid. I should have known better." He grimaced. "No magic for a while, I guess."

"No magic?" Lucy asked, her face paling even further.

Gray tried to smile again. "Oh, don't worry. I can tell that my magic is stronger now than it was right after all that business with the amulet, so it's definitely getting better. I should just…wait for it to recuperate more, I guess." The strained facsimile of a smile faded away. "I sure hope that isn't permanent," he said under his breath.

"Of course it's not," Natsu snapped. His tone was a mixture of anger and something like condescension at Gray's apparent stupidity, but his white face and clenched fists betrayed the fact that he was more worried than he was letting on. "In a couple days you'll be back to normal."

Well, Gray certainly hoped so. Whether or not that actually turned out to be the case was another story altogether. All the same, he nodded and plastered on another smile and let his friends and the healer fuss over him for a few minutes. He could tell how worried and upset they were, so he tolerated the cosseting even though all he really wanted to do was give in to the heaviness pressing down on his body and go to sleep.

"You should eat something," Sara said finally. "I'll go get you some broth. That shouldn't be too harsh on your stomach."

Gray felt his mouth automatically twist in disgust. Although he tried to smooth it out again right away, the others clearly noticed.

"You have to eat," Erza scolded, shaking her head.

"Especially since you haven't eaten in ages," Happy added. "How are you not starving?"

Gray shrugged halfheartedly. On some level, he _was_ starving. But that heat crowded out everything else, and his body was still exhausted and remembered the ever-present nausea all too well.

"Yeah," he mumbled unenthusiastically.

Sara nodded and disappeared out the door, and Gray let himself sink down into the bed as far as he could go. He occasionally nodded or mumbled responses to questions, but his mind was drifting and he could feel himself slipping into sleep. His mind and body and magic were just too worn out.

Maybe his friends sensed that, because they didn't protest too much when they noticed his breathing evening out. But there was still something Gray was supposed to say, something that had been nagging at him ever since he had seen how strangely Natsu was acting. But what…?

"Hey Natsu?" he murmured. He'd finally figured it out, but he was only half aware of it because his mind was already beginning to slip into unconsciousness again. "Don't worry about the challenge or the job or whatever. It's okay."

If Natsu responded, Gray didn't hear it. He was already asleep.

* * *

Gray woke to the godawful sound of wailing ringing in his ears. But he didn't really have time to worry about that right now because he was on fire, the invisible flames tearing through his magic and coursing through his blood. Oh God, oh God, he needed it out of him _right now_ because it was killing him and he couldn't think of a worse way to die than to be consumed by an inferno he couldn't even see, until there was nothing left of him.

His eyes rolled back and for a second he thought he'd black out—and maybe that would be a mercy so that he didn't have to feel the heat eating away at his insides anymore—but although the world went hazy for a moment, he continued to writhe in agony and stayed just conscious enough to feel everything. The pain clouded all his other senses, drawing his awareness to it and it alone, and he suddenly realized that he couldn't breathe.

It was as he sucked in a gasping lungful of air, his ribs creaking in protest, that he discovered that the horrible wailing was coming from him. He immediately clamped his mouth shut because he _did not_ want to hear that noise anymore and certainly didn't want to be the one making it. Now that the screaming wasn't filling his ears, he became vaguely aware of a sea of panicked voices surrounding him.

He tried to pull his attention away from the heat in his chest to look around and noticed that his friends were standing around him, all white-faced and frightened. That healer—he couldn't remember her name for the life of him—was leaning over him, talking to him, and he tried to zero in on her voice.

"–ay? Gray? Can you hear me?"

He nodded jerkily, too afraid to open his mouth in case he just started wailing again.

"Okay, Gray, you–"

Another spasm racked his body and his back arched as he started thrashing around again, grinding his teeth together to prevent himself from crying out. His eyes wanted to roll back again and it seemed like he might lose consciousness and start seizing, but after several long seconds the worst of the pain subsided and he fell limp and boneless. It still hurt—it hurt everywhere and it wouldn't stop, why wouldn't it stop?—but he was also just achy and exhausted from it all.

"Gray? Gray!"

He pried his eyes open again—when had he closed them?—to blink up at the healer blankly. He found it easier to look at her than at his friends, because he didn't want to see them freaking out.

"Can you still hear me?" she pressed.

He nodded again, latching on to her face and voice to try keeping some of the pain at bay.

"Alright, you've been having seizures again." There was helpless worry in her eyes, but she stayed perfectly calm and her voice didn't waver. That was good. It helped ground him. "But you seem to be mostly conscious now, so hopefully the worst is over. I might be able to give you something to relieve some of the pain, but I really just need you to try calming down, okay?"

Gray started to nod, but another jolt of pain shot through him. He tried locking his limbs in place and pressing them down into the bed so that he wasn't thrashing about as much, but it was impossible to stop the involuntary movements entirely. He pressed his teeth together as tightly as he could, wincing as he nicked his tongue and the metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth. A pained whine started deep in the back of his throat, muffled by his clenched teeth, and he hurriedly tried to quell it.

"Okay, okay, it's going to be okay," the healer said.

Gray wasn't sure if she was trying to soothe him or his friends, who were asking worried questions and trying not to panic. He wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying though. It already took enough effort just to focus on the healer, and he didn't have the ability to sort out all the rest of the white noise right now.

"Don't bite down on your teeth so hard," she added, gnawing at her lip absently as she tried to figure out how to handle the situation. "You're going to damage them."

Gray shook his head fitfully. He wasn't entirely sure why it was so important that he keep his mouth shut, but he knew that there was a reason for it.

"It's okay to scream if you need to. Your friends can handle it."

Yeah, that might be it. His eyes drifted away from the healer. Off to her side, Erza was watching him with wide, pained eyes, her face white and bloodless. Lucy was nearby, her eyes filled with tears as she clutched an equally upset-looking Happy to her chest. Even Natsu looked like hell, his face pinched and drawn and his fingers curled into helpless fists at his sides.

Oh no, Gray certainly wasn't going to start up his caterwauling again and make that worse. The corners of his lips twitched upwards into a sardonic, close-lipped smile for the briefest of seconds before another wave of pain assaulted him. Grinding his teeth together, he rode it out.

He wasn't sure how long it was before the sporadic waves of pain started dying down, leaving him with only a steady ache and the occasional jolt. It felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes. It still hurt like hell, but at least he wasn't writhing around anymore. When he was confident that he wouldn't just start screaming the second he opened his mouth, he carefully pried his jaws open, wincing at the ache in his teeth and the throbbing of his bitten tongue.

"I'm okay," he mumbled, the words slurring slightly.

"Is the pain dying down yet?" the healer asked, peering at him in concern.

"Yeah. Kind of." Just forcing the words out was difficult.

Lucy edged closer and deposited Happy on the bed. She hesitated for a moment, but then reached out and tentatively grasped Gray's hand. He blinked at her in bemusement and then his eyes drifted down to their joined hands as she began prying his fingers apart. They unbent with some difficulty, stiff and achy from how tightly they'd been curled into fists. Red crescent-shaped marks marred his palm, a couple small beads of blood sluggishly welling up from the damaged skin.

He hadn't realized that he'd been digging his nails into his palms and clenching his fists so tightly, and he wondered when he'd started. Maybe it had been like that from the beginning. Maybe it had started about the same time he'd started grinding his teeth. Whatever the case, now that his attention had been drawn to them, the injuries began to ache. Just one more note of pain to add to what there already was, insignificant against all the rest.

"Gray…"

He tried to smile at her, although he had a bad feeling that it might have turned out more like a grimace. "It's fine. I'm–"

He sucked in a shuddering breath and gritted his teeth as pain flared up once more. His hands automatically curled into fists again, but Lucy quickly inserted one of her own into one of his. He tried to pull away, but she hung on determinedly.

"It'll be okay," she whispered, her voice trembling a little. "You'll be okay."

He might have laughed if he wasn't in so much pain—funny how she'd flipped it around and was now trying to comfort him—but there was another sharp jab of heat and searing agony, and he couldn't help but reflexively tighten his fists. And since Lucy's hand was caught right in the middle of one, it got squeezed mercilessly. She yelped and winced, but even though he tried to pull away again, she held on. Silly girl.

When this newest attack had subsided, Gray's hands relaxed again and he slumped back, his eyes fluttering shut. "Sorry," he whispered, his voice weak and raspy.

"It's okay," Lucy replied sadly. "How are you doing, Gray?"

Not terribly great. He should probably answer that, but he just felt heavy and tired. All he wanted to do was fall back into the blissful unawareness of sleep, but it was impossible when it felt like he was being burned alive. Still, he was fading back to a state of semi-awareness where things were starting to blur together and drift out of focus.

He was vaguely aware that he was tossing and turning restlessly, unable to stay still when everything hurt and there was no comfortable position to be in. At least he wasn't screaming again, but his breaths were shallow and ragged, and it was a struggle to get them in past the pain.

"Can't you do something?" Natsu demanded, his voice swimming in and out of Gray's conscious hearing.

There were some more muffled voices, sounding far away and distorted to Gray's ears. Then someone was shaking him ever so gently and he forced his eyes open halfway. That healer was there again, leaning over him and holding a cup in her hand.

"I have a medicine that will help you sleep," she said. "It should be strong enough to knock you out. Do you want it?"

He stared at her uncomprehendingly for several long seconds, his sluggish brain slowly picking apart her words and rearranging them into something coherent. When he finally figured it out, he nodded slightly, even that movement a monumental effort.

"Mhm," he murmured.

And then she was helping him choke it down with no little difficulty. But he got it down, and within a few minutes he had drifted back off into fever dreams once more.

* * *

Thankfully, Gray's return to consciousness wasn't quite as harsh this time. The fire in his chest still hurt, he was still disoriented, but the pain was bearable. And he wasn't screaming, which was a definite plus. Despite the fact that he seemed to have spent the last week asleep, he was still exhausted and wanted to slip right back into unconsciousness. Instead, he forced his hazy mind to focus as best he could and glanced around the shadowy room.

Erza had pulled up a chair next to the bed and was obviously lost in thought, her eyes glazed over as she stared at nothing in particular. Her face was pale against the surrounding darkness and Gray could still see the pinched, worried look it bore.

"You look terrible," he rasped.

She started in surprise, her head jerking towards him. "Gray! How are you feeling?"

Gray shrugged and tried to pull himself into something resembling a sitting position, grimacing as he managed to irritate every ache and pain in his body. Erza hurriedly snatched his pillow and rearranged it so that he could lean against it, and he sank back gratefully, willing to settle for a position that was still more lying than sitting.

"Thanks. I–" His scratchy voice cracked and died, and he had to clear his throat and start over. "I'm alright."

Erza gave him a skeptical look as if trying to figure out how much she should believe him, but then shook her head with a sigh and turned away to grab something from a nearby table.

"Here, we left some water for when you woke up again."

She handed the mug to Gray, who took it and sipped at it carefully, grateful for the liquid to soothe his throat.

"Thanks," he said again. "How long was I out this time? It's hard to keep track of time when I'm in and out so much."

Erza sat back in her chair and studied him with a frown. "After the first time you woke up, you started having seizures again only a couple hours later. I don't know how much of that you remember? I don't think you were conscious for the seizures themselves, but you talked to us a little afterwards. And then you were out again for over half a day. Sara had to give you a strong dose of the sleeping medicine to work against all the pain, so it's not a surprise that it took you so long to wake up again."

It took him a second to figure out that Sara was the healer, whose name he had forgotten when the pain drowned out everything else. Yeah, that sounded right.

"Mhm, I remember some of that," he said with a sigh. "You all were totally freaked out. How is everyone else doing?"

Erza threw him a disbelieving look. "Better than you, for starters. They're asleep. Or, they should be. I eventually kicked everyone out and told them to get some rest since you probably wouldn't be waking up for hours anyway. Whether or not they could actually sleep after all that…" She shrugged.

"You should go get some sleep too," he mumbled around a yawn. "You look like you could use it."

She frowned and shook her head sharply. "No. _Someone_ needs to stay with you."

"You really don't. I'm doing fine and things aren't so bad anymore."

For a long moment, Erza didn't reply. Leaning back in the chair, her gaze drifted away and she stared sightlessly at the ground.

"I wasn't here when you stopped breathing the first time."

"Erza–"

"I went to take the treasure hunters back to town, to turn them in to the Council. I didn't really want to, I would've rather forgotten about them entirely because I had more important things to worry about at that point, but it was our job so I did it. When I came back, the others didn't want to tell me what had happened because they thought I'd freak out." She paused, a humorless smile gracing her face for a moment. "Because I _did_ freak out.

"And then you stopped breathing again the next day too. I was there that time. I don't know how long it was before we revived you, but it felt like forever. I thought you weren't going to make it."

Gray stayed quiet for a few seconds and then sighed heavily. Erza's voice was steady, but he could hear the underlying emotions.

"I'm sorry I scared you," he said finally.

"You know, I was pretty upset with you." She smiled sadly. "I mean, I was scared and worried, but I was also mad that you didn't just tell us what was wrong as soon as you started having problems and I planned out a lecture and everything. But although I still think you handled this badly, I don't want to yell at you as much now that you're awake. I'm just glad that you're okay."

"To be fair, I probably would have said something eventually if my brain hadn't short-circuited. But the heat got to me before common sense won out." He grinned at her crookedly. "You can still yell at me if you want. I think I'd rather see you angry than sad. Just don't be too loud, in case those other idiots actually _are_ sleeping."

Erza stared at him for a moment and then the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. "You're incorrigible," she said, shaking her head in fond exasperation. Sobering, she added, "If we're being completely fair here, we should have noticed how badly you were doing even if you hadn't said anything. We screwed up as much as you did."

"Nah, it's not your fault." Gray sighed heavily but offered her a half-smile. "I'm a pretty damn good actor, if I do say so myself."

"That you are. But… Don't you dare ever do that again."

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

Erza bit her lip and dropped her gaze. "Please," she said, her firmness melting into something like pleading, "don't do this to us again."

Gray winced and swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"We're sorry too," she said with a sigh. "We should have done a better job looking after you, and we're going to do it right this time around. So tell me, how are you really feeling?"

"Not great, but not as bad as before," Gray said, smiling wanly.

A quick stab of pain shuddered through his body to bely his words, but thankfully it was still mild in comparison to what he had been feeling earlier. After an involuntary wince and a couple seconds of teeth-grinding, he relaxed again.

"Given the fact that you've always been very good at hiding when you're in pain, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that things are worse than you're making them out to be."

He huffed out a tired laugh and let his head fall back. "Why must you always call me on my bullshit?"

"Because someone has to do it." Despite herself, a smile flickered briefly across Erza's face. "But seriously. I want an honest answer from you."

He sighed, realizing that it would be better to give it to her straight. Especially after everything they had just talked about.

"Yeah, it hurts like hell. But it's also true that it isn't nearly as bad as it was last time. I can tell that I'm doing better than before because I can feel that I have more magic now and that it's regenerating, and it provides something of a buffer against everything else." He smiled grimly. "Funny, you never really realize how much your magic affects your normal state of well-being until it starts going haywire. It's funny the things we start taking for granted because they're such integral parts of ourselves that we barely even notice them anymore until something goes wrong."

Erza immediately winced, and he wished he could take his words back. Clearly he should pay more attention to what he was saying before he said it.

"It'll be okay, Gray. Your magic will recover and go back to normal."

"I sure hope so," he muttered, smiling tiredly.

The thought of having permanent damage to his magic made him sick to his stomach. He couldn't imagine a life without it, or even having to live with a damaged version of it. Not only was it an intimate connection to his past, but it had become such a deeply ingrained part of himself that having it disappear would be akin to having an arm or leg chopped off. Actually, he might prefer losing a limb. It would be more like having his soul ripped out and torn to shreds.

"Seriously, Erza, I think I made it through the worst of it. Things are getting better. I think that maybe the relapse last time was because of my stupid attempt to reach my magic when I first woke up. It stirred up all of that amulet's magic again so that it went back on the attack, but hopefully it's settled down again now. So really, you can go get some sleep. I'll be fine now."

"I'm not going anywhere," she said, her voice soft. Reaching over, she pressed her hand gently against Gray's forehead. He instinctively flinched away from the contact before forcing himself to stop, and Erza frowned slightly. "You're still so hot."

"Sure," Gray said, chuckling quietly as he started sipping at his water again. "It's plenty hot."

Erza's frown deepened and she twisted to the side to pick up a rag that had been discarded on the table. She dipped it into a small basin of water that Gray surmised had been left there for that purpose, and then leaned over to run it gently across his face. He chose not to point out that the worst of the heat was coming from inside him, from a place she couldn't reach with all the water in the world. But still, the water _did_ feel good on his overheated skin, so he just sighed and relaxed a little.

"Feels good," he mumbled, fighting back another yawn.

"Good." Erza sighed and dipped the rag back into the water, wringing it out and then continuing her ministrations. "It's nice to finally be able to do something to help, no matter how small."

Gray laughed softly. "Ah, you guys always do more than you realize."

"In what way?"

He shrugged and shifted about a little, looking for any comfortable position even though he knew it was useless with the cancerous magic curling in his chest and the miscellaneous aches that only served to accentuate the discomfort of the heat. He didn't really feel like discussing sentimental crap right now, not when he was dying to go to sleep but wasn't sure he could manage it because of the unceasing pain.

"I still think you should go sleep."

"Your opinion has been duly noted," Erza replied dryly, making no move to leave.

"I'm doing better, you know. You really don't have to stay."

"I know." She smiled wistfully. "But I want to."

Gray laughed as he realized why this seemed so familiar. "I feel like there's nothing I could say at this point that wouldn't make me sound like a hypocrite."

"Oh, you remember that?" Erza asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure," he said, stifling another yawn. A lot of the desert trek was rather hazy in his memory, but he could still vaguely recall the time when Erza had been sitting up at night and he had insisted on staying with her until she fell asleep. "That was the night everything really started going to hell."

"What do you mean?"

Gray shrugged languidly, letting his eyes drift shut. "It all sucked before then too, but I got really sick that night. So I guess that must've been the point where I started to swear off eating. And everything else just got worse from there."

The rag stilled and Erza stayed silent for a moment. "I didn't notice."

"Of course you didn't. I didn't want you to."

"You're going to be the death of me one day," she said with a sigh as she moved to dampen the rag again. "You should've just said something."

"Mm." Gray didn't really want to go there again right now. "I can't make you leave, but I hope you aren't expecting to be entertained by my sparkling wit for too long. Despite the fact that I've been unconscious for days, I'm still ridiculously tired."

"I think that's probably normal," Erza replied optimistically. "I mean, your body and magic have been undergoing severe strain and are still trying to fight off the amulet's magic. With all that energy being used to take care of all your injuries and that damn magic, I don't think it's that surprising that you're exhausted. And sleep is probably good for you—it'll help you heal faster."

"I guess." Gray grimaced and shifted restlessly, the pain making him unable to stay entirely still despite his exhaustion. "But I can already tell that it's going to get old fast. Constant sleep will drive me crazy eventually."

"Yeah, us too."

He opened his eyes and winced, realizing his faux pas. Of course Erza and the others wouldn't be fans of all the sleeping after they'd had to watch him lie unconscious for days. He probably shouldn't have brought that up, even in a joking way.

"Sorry."

Erza shrugged off the apology. "Sara left some more of that sleeping potion, if you want it to help you sleep. It's a smaller dose so it shouldn't knock you out for quite as long."

"That would be nice."

"I thought so." She shot him a look as she grabbed the medicine and handed it to him. "I'm sure it isn't easy to fall asleep when you're in that much pain, even if you won't admit that you're feeling it."

Gray laughed and downed the concoction. "Yeah, yeah."

He settled back to wait for the potion to do its job, letting his eyes close again. Erza carefully took the bottle and empty cup from his hands to return them to the table. For a few moments, neither of them spoke. Gray could already feel the medicine starting to take effect, dulling the pain a little as it began dragging his mind towards the unconsciousness of sleep.

"You don't have to stay," he mumbled, only half-aware of what he was saying now that his mind was growing hazy again. "But…I'd like it if…you at least stayed until…I fall asleep."

"Of course," Erza murmured, her voice sounding like it came from a hundred miles away.

He felt her tenderly brush his hair out of his face and slip her hand into one of his own reassuringly, and he let himself drift off to sleep, safe in the knowledge that she was with him and he wasn't alone.

* * *

 **Note: Eesh, I read over the part with Gray and Erza and thought my teeth would rot out. They're so cute. I must be losing my touch. And yeah, no way to get around all the sleeping atm.**

 **On a totally unrelated note, I finally figured out why the word counts on this site are always so wildly inflated (aside from A/Ns): the horizontal line breaks sometimes mess things up and count for a ton of words. It's killing me here x.x**

 **emmahoshi: Yeah, I didn't feel like writing out five days of the team watching Gray sleep and have seizures, so it was convenient to switch over to Gray's POV and just mention it. And he's awake because things aren't as bad anymore, but he still has a lot of recovering to do. Lol, I would laugh at the zombie thing too and part of it is just that Gray's brain is still a little wonky, but yeah, that was not the right time for that. And no, the one little sorry isn't enough lol Ha, I'd much rather have chocolate too : ) Nah, it doesn't have to do with sleep. If you haven't figured it out yet then I think it's clearer by ch 14, although the answer is here too. Yeah, I agree about the coma thing—I think it would be unnerving the first few times they went back to sleep. The line break is a weird case—I did some double-checking and sometimes it messes up the word count, sometimes it doesn't. I'm confused XD Yeah, Gray, give up already lol**


	13. Ceilings and floors

**Note: Yes, my inner snark-brat got ahold of this chapter descriptor.**

 **Andie: That's very sweet :3 Playing with words is one of my favorite pastimes, actually. I do like things to be poetic and beautiful, but only if they still work properly and get the point across without turning things into a jumbled mess, ha ha. And I was disgustingly proud of that first sentence, so I'm glad you liked it XD**

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

 _(In which Natsu becomes intimately acquainted with the ceiling, and Gray with the floor.)_

* * *

Natsu was bored. Erza had said that Gray woke up for a bit last night and seemed better, so maybe the worst was over. The worst was definitely over. And anyway, even if Natsu _had_ still been worried—which he definitely wasn't, not at all—waiting around was boring as hell and it was hard to maintain a constant level of panic for too long.

Gray was still sleeping and no one wanted him to be left alone in case he went into seizures or stopped breathing, so the team had been taking shifts, much the same way they'd been doing for the past several days already. For now, Natsu was the one stuck here. Erza had told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to wake Gray up or 'you will very much regret it and not be able to walk for a week and– Do you think I'm joking? Natsu, I will rip you apart', so there was really nothing to do. He wished that he'd taken Happy up on his offer to stay as well, but he had told him to go ahead and hang out with the girls. He was regretting it now.

Natsu had settled in a chair on the far side of the room and tilted it to an unsafe angle so that the back was jammed against the wall and the front legs were well off the ground. It put him in perfect position to stare at the ceiling, and he'd been counting the cracks in the adobe for the past hour or so, ever since he had relieved Lucy from her shift. The only break from the monotony had been when a frighteningly large spider had scurried across the ceiling before disappearing into the webbed maw of a fissure directly over the bed. It had been terribly exciting.

But there was still nothing much better to do, so Natsu continued crack-watching as he tried to convince himself not to claw his eyes out in frustration. He was busy trying to decide whether a gouge with an offshoot should be counted as one crack or two—a question that, while under other circumstances would be decidedly mundane, was currently of similar tedium-relieving value as the spider—when he heard a loud thump from the other side of the room.

Startled, he automatically jumped up, except that he hadn't taken into account the dangerously tilted chair. As the chair fell back to a more normal position with a jarring thud, it sent Natsu crashing to the ground.

The sound of laughter started up, and Natsu quickly sat up with a groan. Gray was also collapsed on the floor by the bed, laughing even though he also had his arms wrapped across his chest as if it hurt.

"Gray?" Natsu asked stupidly. "What…?"

"You should have seen yourself!" Gray snickered, grinning crookedly. "Man, that was great."

"Uh, wait, when did you wake up?"

"Just a minute ago."

"Why didn't you say something?" Natsu grumbled, shaking his head and pulling himself to his feet.

"You looked really interested in the ceiling, and who was I to distract you?"

Natsu stared at him blankly for a moment before his brain finally registered what he was seeing, namely that Gray was sprawled across the floor.

"Shit, what happened?" he demanded, hurrying over to his friend's side. "Are you okay?"

Gray sobered, a grimace flickering across his face, and waved Natsu off irritably. "Yeah, yeah. I was just trying to get up is all."

"…Why?"

"Because I'm tired of being bedridden," he muttered, glancing down at himself with no little annoyance. "Sleeping all the time is going to drive me crazy. I want to get up and move and not feel like an invalid."

"So… Why are you on the floor then?"

"Because apparently I'm too damn weak to do much else." Gray glowered off at a point on the floor well away from Natsu. Making such an admission clearly pained him.

Natsu frowned uncertainly, not sure what he could say that wouldn't make Gray become more irritable. But Gray wasn't waiting for a reply anyway. He had pulled himself to a seated position and was now cautiously trying to stand, his teeth gritted in pain and his brow furrowed in concentration. He wobbled dangerously and Natsu hurriedly grabbed him to keep him upright, frowning at the heat still radiating from his normally cool friend.

Gray sighed heavily and kept his gaze fixed on the ground as he clutched Natsu's arm and shuffled back a couple paces. Releasing the dragon slayer, he sat back down on the bed and frowned at the floor moodily.

"You could have, uh, just asked for help," Natsu said awkwardly, wondering how badly he would take that.

"That would have defeated the whole purpose." Gray grinned suddenly, mischief sparking in his eyes as he gave Natsu a sly look. "The plan was to sneak out while you were distracted by the ceiling and then wait to see how long it took you to realize that I was gone."

Natsu blinked at him uncertainly for a moment and then laughed. He wasn't sure that had actually been Gray's original intention, but he was glad that his friend could still summon up some humor.

"I would've celebrated the fact that I finally managed to get rid of you," he said cheerfully, not willing to admit that he would have completely panicked if Gray had suddenly turned up missing.

"In which case it would have been totally worth it to see your face when you realized that I wasn't gone after all and you'd still have to put up with me," Gray shot back, unfazed.

Natsu laughed and rolled his eyes, but sobered as he realized that the words hit a little too close to home. Not that he had really been that close to losing Gray, but still. It wasn't something he really wanted to think about. At all. Definitely time to move on.

"So… How are you feeling?" he asked cautiously.

Gray pursed his lips. "Could be better. Could be worse."

"That's not a terribly useful description," Natsu remarked, rolling his eyes. "And since you just collapsed on the floor, I'm a little suspicious of all your wishy-washy answers. Plus, Erza warned us that you'd try to downplay it, as if we couldn't have guessed that ourselves. We all know that you're an idiot."

"You guys are so pushy," Gray said, half amused and half annoyed. Then he sighed and rubbed at his face tiredly. "It's not as bad as it was before, and I think the worst is over. It just might take me a few days to really get back on my feet again. But mostly I just want to get out of this room already. I'm tired of seeing it every time I wake up. It's like a hospital or something."

Natsu laughed. "That's kind of the point."

"Whatever."

"Well," he said slowly, wrinkling his brow in thought as he got back on track, "maybe Sara will let you move back into our room now that we're not as worried about you randomly dying in your sleep."

"That would be nice."

"It would get you away from the spider, anyway."

Gray frowned suspiciously. "What spider?"

"The one living above your bed."

Gray studied Natsu warily, trying to figure out if it was a joke, but then looked up anyway, eyes narrowing as he searched the ceiling. After a moment, he spotted the crack with all the webs stretched across it and pulled a face.

"Gross," he grumbled. "Why didn't you just kill it?"

"Aw, is the ice princess scared of an itsy bitsy spider?"

"No, but I don't like them. They're nasty little critters and have way too many legs."

Natsu laughed at his look of thorough disgust. "Well, Erza said she'd have my head if I woke you up."

"…And?"

"And a roar would probably be overkill anyway."

"You just have to overdo everything, don't you?" Gray asked, rolling his eyes even though one corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

"Yup. Anyway, everyone will be glad to know you're awake again. Maybe you'll actually stay up for more than a few minutes this time." Natsu sighed as another thought occurred to him. "Oh, Lucy won't be happy."

"Why not?"

"Because she's weird. After Erza told us you woke up on her watch last night, Lucy was complaining that you never wake up when she's here even though you've woken up for everyone else. Seriously. I don't get what the big deal is. I mean, shouldn't she be grateful that she doesn't have to deal with you as much?"

Gray snorted and shook his head. "I'm so sorry to have inconvenienced you all by waking up at the wrong times."

Although Natsu didn't see what the big deal was, he had to admit that he thought he might understand the underlying issue. Still, now that Gray seemed ready to stay up for more normal hours and start recovering, Lucy would get more chances to spend time with him and feel like she was helping.

Noticing that Gray was starting to shift about impatiently and eye the door, Natsu asked, "So, what do you want to do first, now that you're up and about?"

Gray stilled and considered the question. "I really just want to take a shower."

"A shower?" Natsu threw him a disbelieving look and then cracked up. "Really? That's what's at the top of your list right now?"

"Yes," Gray muttered, scowling at him. "After days of wandering in a desert and then a bunch more days of being ill, I feel really gross and sweaty and…gross."

Natsu just laughed harder. "Yeah, you look pretty bad too."

The weeks of being unable to care for himself properly had definitely taken their toll on Gray. It hadn't really caught Natsu's attention since he'd been more focused on the fact that his friend was busy almost dying, but now that Gray had brought it up…

"Shut up. You have pink hair."

"Why must you always make fun of the hair?" Natsu groaned. "There's nothing wrong with it."

"I never get tired of pointing out how stupid it looks."

"Whatever. Well, you do realize that they don't actually have showers out here, right?"

"Of course," Gray snapped, giving him a dirty look. "I'm not stupid. I don't know about this tribe in particular, but a lot of tribes around here mostly use oil and sand for bathing, and occasionally water. Since we're foreigners they might give us water though. In any case, it's better than nothing."

"Thanks for the lecture," Natsu muttered, before smiling sheepishly. "But yeah, they gave us some water and stuff. There's still a basin in our bathroom if you think you can make it there."

Gray stiffened and frowned at the ground again. "You…might have to help me."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Natsu said hurriedly. "No problem."

"Is my bag over there too?"

"Why would it be in our bathroom?" he asked, perplexed. Gray threw him a scathing look, and Natsu winced as he realized exactly how stupid he sounded. "Oh yeah, it's in our room. Why?"

"Because bathing won't do any good unless I have clean clothes to change into," Gray said dryly.

"Oh. I guess so." Natsu shrugged it off. "So, you wanna go?"

Gray sighed and nodded. Gingerly pulling himself back to his feet, he stood still for a moment and then took a hesitant step forward, a pinched look equal parts pain and determination clouding his features. Natsu hovered by his side uncertainly, waiting to step in if he keeled over again. Gray managed to make it halfway across the room before he cursed and pitched forward as his sprained ankle gave out. Natsu hurriedly slipped an arm around him to support him better.

Gray mumbled a halfhearted thanks under his breath but didn't look over. Natsu just stayed quiet and helped him limp out of the room and down the hall. It was slow going, mostly because Gray was having a hard time but also because he was trying to walk on his own as much as possible, with minimal help from Natsu. Natsu didn't complain because he understood. Besides, it was really disconcerting to see Gray like this, and it was a little better to see him at least doing some of it himself instead of giving up and relying on the dragon slayer entirely.

Still, Natsu breathed a sigh of relief as they finally reached the room they had shared before this whole mess. He half-dragged Gray to the bathroom and then paused as a horrifying thought occurred to him.

"You don't, uh, need help…"

Gray tore his gaze away from the floor to stare at him blankly. Natsu cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably, and Gray's eyes widened.

"Oh _hell_ no," the ice mage said quickly, with a violent shake of his head. "I can do it myself, thank you very much."

Natsu breathed a sigh of relief and Gray stepped away from him, leaning against the wall to stay upright. He was frowning at something on the other side of the room, and it took Natsu a second to realize that he was obviously debating how he was going to retrieve his bag. Rolling his eyes, Natsu fetched the bag and brought it back to his friend.

"Thanks."

"Yup. Well, there are some towel-ish things in there, and some water and soap and stuff. While you take care of that, I'll go tell the others that you're awake." Natsu frowned and looked his friend up and down. "And I'll suggest that we have an early lunch for when you're done. You should really eat something."

Gray hadn't exactly eaten anything for all those days he'd been unconscious and apparently hadn't been eating much before then either, and it showed. His face was looking almost gaunt, and Natsu could definitely tell that he'd lost a lot of weight. Half-carrying him around had given Natsu the chance to feel exactly how much.

"Yeah, sounds good," Gray said with a sigh. "I shouldn't be long."

He slipped into the bathroom and pulled the door shut behind him. Natsu stared at the closed door for a few moments before shaking his head and leaving the room.

He headed right for the room that the Fairy Tail mages had commandeered as their home base during the day. They'd been spending a lot of time there while they were off Gray-watching duty, unless they could find something better to occupy their time. Sometimes Sara or Desert Hawk or some of the other villagers would sit in with them as well, although usually it was just the team now. It was alright when they were just sitting and talking and waiting things out, but it had started taking on the feel of a hospital waiting room.

"Guess who finally decided to join the land of the living again?" he announced as he walked in and flopped over on a chair across from where the girls were having an animated discussion with Sara and Desert Hawk.

Everyone immediately looked at him, eyes lighting up.

"How is he feeling?" Lucy asked.

"He says he's alright." Natsu rolled his eyes, but then grinned at Happy as the Exceed fluttered over to perch by him. Then he remembered Gray's state and frowned a little. "But he tried to get up and collapsed, and I had to help him walk because he's kind of weak and his ankle isn't helping. And he's pretty touchy about it, so don't make a big deal out of it."

The others frowned, but didn't look terribly surprised.

"I'll have to take another look at his injuries and see how they're healing," Sara said with a sigh. "But I'm not sure that I'll be able to do a magical examination yet, not until his magic has completely destroyed whatever's left over from the amulet."

"We understand," Erza assured her, before raising an eyebrow at Natsu. "And where is Gray now?"

"Bathing in our room. Apparently he felt gross and that's what he wanted to do. And I, uh, might have told him that he could probably move back in there too. He's sick of the clinic, and I'm not sure we really need to keep watch over him all night anymore."

"As long as you keep an eye on him, it should be fine," the healer replied with a shrug. "Maybe it will do him some good. I _do_ think that worst is probably over now. And in any case, you and Happy will still be in there. Hopefully one of you would wake up on the off-chance that he started having seizures again."

Natsu and Happy exchanged looks. Natsu probably wouldn't wake up if an army of trumpet-blowing elephants marched in circles around his bed. Happy wasn't quite as heavy a sleeper though, so maybe he would wake up if something happened. The Exceed just shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, definitely," Natsu said, grinning widely. "Anyway, I was thinking that maybe we could break for an early lunch? It's about time Gray started eating again."

"Good idea," Desert Hawk said approvingly. "I will have food prepared. In ten minutes, perhaps, you will meet me in the dining room for a meal?"

"That sounds great, thank you," Erza replied.

He nodded to her and disappeared out the door, followed by Sara, who said that she'd take a look at Gray later.

Lucy watched them go and then turned on Natsu with a ferocious scowl. "I can't believe I missed him again! What, he couldn't wake up an hour earlier?"

"Uh, no?" Natsu offered. "I don't think that's how sleep works. Unless you wanna wake him up, but Erza would kill you."

Lucy sighed discontentedly, while Natsu and Happy exchanged bemused looks and shrugged.

"Well, he's awake now," Erza said. "That's the important thing."

"Yeah, I guess so," Lucy admitted.

Natsu quickly made his excuses and hightailed it out of there, just in case the conversation wasn't actually over. Happy followed behind, bombarding him with all sorts of questions about how Gray was doing.

"Relax," Natsu said finally, rolling his eyes as he turned down the hallway to their room. "He's fine."

Happy eyed him up and down. "You're still worried," he observed.

"I am not."

"It's okay," Happy said soothingly. "I'm sure he really is doing better now."

"How would you know? The last time you saw him awake, he was thrashing around and nearly biting his teeth in half so that he wouldn't start screaming again."

Happy didn't reply immediately, and Natsu instantly regretted his words. For one, they made him sound like a complete jerk. Even worse, it was hard to shake the mental image they conjured up, and it was one he'd rather not have.

"It's not your fault," the Exceed said finally, his voice soft. "And I don't think he blames you."

"Of course not," Natsu snapped, looking away. "Why do you keep going on weird tangents?"

Happy chose not to respond, and the two friends walked the last few steps in silence as they ducked into their room. Natsu automatically looked at the still-closed door to the bathroom, but then reluctantly turned back to Happy.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"It's okay." Happy sighed. "We've all been on edge."

Natsu bit back his instinctive protest and headed over to knock hesitantly on the bathroom door instead.

"Ice block? Are you alright?"

There was a beat of silence, before Natsu heard Gray sigh heavily.

"Yeah, I… Yeah. You can come in."

Natsu pushed the door open to see Gray sitting cross-legged on the floor and frowning downwards absently, although he looked squeaky clean and was wearing fresh clothes. It wasn't even the being on the floor thing that bothered Natsu, since he knew that Gray was still pretty weak. But… Well, he couldn't be entirely sure, but he thought that his friend's face looked paler and more pinched than it had earlier.

"Are you okay? Did something happen?"

Gray smiled wanly. "Nah, I'm good."

He stood carefully and limped all of half a step before wincing and teetering a little. Natsu slipped an arm around him, and although Gray didn't comment, he leaned on the dragon slayer heavily. Natsu's suspicions were immediately aroused again because he seemed a lot frailer than before, not trying half as hard to stand on his own. Natsu opened his mouth to ask again if something had happened, but then closed it. Gray didn't seem very willing to talk about it.

"Hey, Happy," Gray said, grinning toothily as he spotted the Exceed hovering in the doorway. "How's it going?"

Happy stared at him for a moment and then launched forward, slamming into Gray's chest and throwing his stubby paws around him as far as they would go.

"Oh God," Gray groaned, wincing as he hugged the Exceed back. "Not the ribs again."

Happy drew back, his eyes wide. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Gray smiled, but leaned against Natsu a little more. "It's good to see you too."

The trio slowly made their way to the dining room, Happy chatting away and Gray offering upbeat answers and dazzling smiles while Natsu kept an eye on him. Gray had started trying to walk on his own again, but the results weren't quite as good. Natsu wasn't sure if it was because he was tired out from his earlier attempt or if there was something else.

They had only made it about halfway down the hall when Gray stopped short, making Natsu stumble. The dragon slayer opened his mouth to ask what was up, but froze when he took in Gray's glassy eyes and the way his body had started trembling slightly.

"Ice princess? Hey, Gray? Are you alright?"

"I…um, I need, uh… I don't…know. Can we…um… Can we stop for…uh, for a second?"

Natsu eyed him in alarm, not liking how he suddenly couldn't even seem to string a sentence together. His face had gone completely ashen and the tremors racking his body were becoming more violent, to the point where he slumped against Natsu to stay upright.

"Oh shit, are you going to start seizing again?" Natsu demanded, looking around frantically. "Let me go get Sara and–"

He tried to push Gray away gently to leave him on the floor and go fetch the healer, but the ice mage made a strangled sound of protest in the back of his throat and fisted both hands in Natsu's shirt, clutching the fabric until his knuckles went white as he buried his face in the dragon slayer's chest.

"No," he slurred, pressing himself against Natsu as if hanging on to him for dear life. "Don't…go."

"But–"

"Please…"

Natsu bit his lip and looked over Gray's bowed head at Happy hovering nearby, eyes wide and trembling paws clasped together.

"Go get Sara and the others, alright?"

"Aye sir."

Happy disappeared down the hallway and around the corner in a blue blur, leaving Natsu to figure out what to do. By this point Gray wasn't even trying to stand anymore, so Natsu grunted and carefully lowered him to the ground, dropping down with him since he still had a death grip on his shirt.

"What's going on?" Natsu asked, turning his head at an odd angle to try getting a look at Gray's face. It didn't do him any good since it was still hidden against his chest.

Gray mumbled something, but Natsu couldn't make out what it was or even if it was anything coherent at all. Given how spaced-out Gray had been and how much trouble he seemed to be having coming up with intelligible thoughts, maybe it wasn't really anything at all.

"Are you okay? Can I do something?"

Gray didn't respond at all, just continued shivering. Natsu was terrified that he would go into seizures again or pass out or something. God, where was everyone else? Happy had better hurry up because Gray couldn't… Gray couldn't die like this.

Natsu shook his head and swallowed hard, not willing to pursue that line of thought. Of course Gray wasn't dying. He was still doing better than he had been before, wasn't he? This was just something minor. Obviously.

"It's gonna be okay. Hold on, ice block."

Gray let out a shuddering whine, hands tightening reflexively, and his body twitched violently before settling back to a less severe level of trembling again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you're going to be okay. Shit, I didn't mean for this to happen."

Why had Natsu thought that a desert was a good idea? God, he wished he could take it back now.

He grimaced at the heat radiating from Gray, and then cursed as it suddenly reminded him of how Erza had warned him off of touching the ice mage back when he'd first collapsed. Gray was already overheated enough without adding Natsu's elevated body temperature to the mix. The dragon slayer tried disentangling his friend's hands from his shirt and pushing him away, but Gray just tightened his grip and pressed himself closer.

"Come on, come on, don't make things worse for yourself," Natsu muttered, not convinced that Gray could actually hear him or was truly aware of what was going on. "Gray, come on. Snap out of it."

He finally heard footsteps pounding down the hall, and breathed a shaky sigh of relief even though his heart was still hammering against his chest. Happy hurtled through the air and crash-landed next to Natsu, Sara and the rest of the team hurrying after him.

"What happened?" Erza demanded, dropping to her knees to peer at Gray worriedly. "Happy said he just started going weird and shaking?"

"Yeah, I don't know," Natsu mumbled, still futilely attempting to pry Gray's fingers apart. "He just stopped and went totally white and started trembling. And he was slurring his words and it sounded like he was having a hard time speaking. I don't think he's entirely here, if you know what I mean."

"But no seizures?"

"Nothing like last time."

"It's possible that he had more minor ones," Sara said absently, frowning as she tried to work her hands in between Natsu and Gray to get at the ice mage. "Wow, he really has a death grip on you, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. I was trying to get him off because I thought I might just be overheating him more, but he won't let go."

"He didn't really want to be alone when he woke up last night either," Erza remarked, voice steady despite the worry shining in her eyes. "Although he was already half asleep, so I don't know if he realized what he was saying by that point."

Lucy leaned forward to touch Gray hesitantly on the arm. "Is he okay? What's happening?"

"Give me a second," Sara said with a sigh. Natsu couldn't see what she was doing, but she seemed to have worked a hand around to reach Gray. "It's hard to tell until I can get a better look at him."

The team watched her and Gray silently, all frightened but unwilling to address it again. Natsu had given up on his fruitless efforts to dislodge his friend and just held him instead, waiting for the trembling to die down. He could feel it starting to subside, and sincerely hoped that Gray would be returning to his senses soon.

"I think he might have had a couple more seizures," Sara said finally.

"They didn't look like seizures," Natsu replied doubtfully, not liking that idea.

"There are different kinds of seizures. These obviously weren't as dramatic as his other ones, but… Well, these were more minor, anyway. He doesn't seem to be in as bad shape as before."

"I'm fine," Gray mumbled.

Natsu started in surprise and began twisting his head around to try getting a look at his friend's face again. "Ice block? You okay?"

"Mhm." Gray looked up slowly, eyes still a little unfocused but not nearly as frighteningly distant as before.

Everyone began talking at once, but he just shook his head slightly and glanced around to get his bearings. His face was pale and his expression a little dazed, but at least he was responsive again. His eyes slowly drifted down to his hands and a frown spread across his face as he released Natsu's shirt with some difficulty, his fingers clearly stiff and reluctant to unlock.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"It's fine."

Gray pushed himself away from Natsu to lean back a little, and his eyes widened as he almost flopped over backwards. Natsu bit out a curse and grabbed him, tugging him back upright and pulling him around so that he could lean against the dragon slayer's side.

"Well damn," Gray said, straight-faced. "It looks like the snuggling is no longer restricted to trains."

Natsu stared at him speechlessly for a moment and then choked out a half-amused laugh. "Don't be stupid. That couldn't be considered snuggling by any stretch of the imagination."

"Hey, guys," Gray added, ignoring Natsu in favor of smiling brightly at the others. "How's it going?"

Which, of course, started up a whole flurry of half-annoyed, half-amused responses that Gray really should have anticipated when he'd decided to start joking around like nothing had just happened. Idiot. Still, it was a little reassuring because at least he was acting normal again and not twitching around everywhere.

He submitted to Sara's poking and prodding and questions patiently, and eventually the healer leaned back and shook her head.

"I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it might just be an aftershock," she said. "By which I mean that the worst is over but he might still have a few minor fits as he continues to recover. He seems mostly fine for now though."

Which wasn't really enough to totally reassure the others—aside from Natsu, who obviously wasn't worried in the least—but still helped a little. Eventually it was decided that they might as well continue on to the dining room since Gray really did need to eat and didn't seem like he was about to start going all weird again, so Natsu helped him up and they made their way down the hall. Gray was leaning on him more heavily than he had been earlier, but he was at least trying to walk on his own again.

The team continued to ask him questions, which he answered good-naturedly. He even cracked a few jokes and kept a smile in place, so it seemed like he was feeling a bit better, anyway. By the time they finally made it to the dining room, the food piled on the table had started going cold, but no one complained.

"Here, I had them make you some soup so that it's not too harsh on your stomach," Sara said finally, once Natsu had helped Gray over and gotten him seated at the table.

"Thanks." Gray smiled and took the bowl.

He sipped away at the broth and worked his way through the bowl methodically with measured bites, often pausing to answer questions or insert comments or generally try to deflect the conversation away from himself. Eventually everyone else started giving up on pressing him about his fit because he clearly wasn't interested in continuing to discuss it, and conversation began drifting to other topics. He seemed very interested in Lucy's tales about some of the village kids she'd started slowly befriending over the past few days, but that might have just been because he was tired of constantly hearing about his condition and having to answer incessant questions about it.

"You should really eat more," Lucy said suddenly, breaking off her story to eye Gray. "You've gotten so thin."

"Relax." Gray kept his voice light, but his eyes were resigned and weary. "I can handle the eating on my own."

Natsu scowled. "You haven't eaten in forever. How are you not starving?"

Gray swirled his spoon in the soup unenthusiastically. "I am, sort of. But not as much as you think, because my body is used to starvation rations now. And anyway, this is probably all my stomach can handle at the moment. I mean, I couldn't even keep water down half the time for a while there. I'd rather not make myself violently ill again, thank you very much."

Natsu frowned at that, picking up on the offhanded admission. Not for the first time, he wondered how Gray could have been throwing up and passing out and _dying_ , and no one had even noticed.

"He's right," Sara said mildly, before anyone could protest. "It's better to keep him on water and small portions of easily digestible foods for now. We can work our way up to more normal meals once his body recovers more."

Natsu pursed his lips and looked away, and no one else looked particularly pleased either. Maybe they had thought that now that Gray was up and moving around, things would magically go back to normal. But there were still so many things that were wrong. Even aside from sudden seizing fits, there were little things that Natsu hadn't even considered, like Gray not being able to eat like normal. It was those little unexpected things that were the worst, because they snuck up out of nowhere to remind everyone that things just weren't back to normal yet.

"Maybe it would be easier to get back on a normal eating schedule if we were actually eating at normal times," Gray said cheerfully. "It's too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. Things would have been much easier if Natsu had waited a couple more hours before he woke me up."

"Natsu woke you up?" Erza asked incredulously, before turning to glower at the dragon slayer.

"What? No!" Natsu protested, his eyes widening.

Gray glanced back and forth between Natsu and Erza, his expression just a little too politely puzzled. There was something a little affected about it, a little too innocent, almost as if… As if Natsu hadn't told him that Erza had warned him against waking Gray up.

Sneaky bastard.

"Is something wrong?" Gray asked innocently. Then he smiled a little apologetically. "Well, to be fair, he wasn't _trying_ to wake me up. You know him—he can't help but be kind of loud sometimes. But seriously, he was trying to be quiet."

Natsu glared at him. Gray was pretending like he was trying to smooth things over, as if he didn't know full well that he was just adding fuel to the fire.

"I didn't–"

" _What did he do?_ " Erza demanded.

"Seriously, I didn't—"

"Be quiet!"

"It's alright," Gray said, waving his hands in a placating gesture even though he was having a hard time stopping one corner of his mouth from quirking upwards. "He was just trying to kill a spider. I guess it was living above the bed and he didn't like it. Well, maybe a roar was overkill, but he tends to overdo everything anyway. It's not a big deal."

Natsu gaped at him, having the sudden urge to slow clap. Half of him wanted to congratulate Gray on turning their earlier conversation around so neatly. The other half wanted to strangle the idiot.

"Natsu, you didn't," Lucy groaned, closing her eyes and rubbing at her forehead.

"No, I really didn't," Natsu grumbled, scowling at Gray.

Erza turned on the dragon slayer, her eyes blazing. "Explain yourself!"

So Natsu spent the next few minutes trying to explain himself. Every time he managed to almost convince Erza that he hadn't done anything wrong, Gray would add in a too-innocent comment that immediately set her off again. Eventually Natsu gave up, wondering how Gray was always one step ahead of him.

"Fine, fine, you win," he said finally, rolling his eyes. "I woke him up."

Gray looked down to hide his smirk. Lucy and Happy seemed to have picked up on the fact that Gray was teasing, but Erza had no qualms about delivering a blistering lecture. Or maybe she had some idea after all, because she didn't actually kill Natsu and settled back into a more cheerful mood after only a few minutes of railing.

Gray, apparently content now that he had gotten Natsu in trouble—or maybe the real point was that everyone was in a better mood now that they had been distracted from his issues?—ate quietly and didn't say much. He gave up on eating pretty quickly though, and just settled back to listen to the banter and smile at the jokes. And because it wasn't like there was much else to do in the middle of the desert, everyone stayed seated at the table long after they'd finished eating, swapping stories and teasing.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Lucy asked him finally. "You don't feel like you're going to, you know…? You're looking kind of pale."

"I'm always pale."

"Gray, seriously," Happy interjected.

Gray sighed and leaned back in his chair. "This is going to sound stupid, but…all I really want to do right now is go back to sleep."

Natsu blinked at him in surprise. "Wait, what was all that earlier about how you wanted to get up and move around because all the sleeping was driving you crazy?"

"Yeah, well that was back when I was optimistic that I actually had the ability to do anything besides sleep," Gray said sourly, his nostrils flaring as he frowned at the ground.

Natsu winced. Okay, so Gray was still touchy about this. And he didn't seem very pleased by the fact that he was still weak and exhausted, so if he was saying that he needed to sleep then he really needed to sleep. Besides, after how he had collapsed in the hallway, it was probably a good idea to listen to him when he said that he was reaching his limits.

"You've been sleeping for so long," Lucy said with a sigh. "And you've only been up for a few hours."

Gray shrugged, his frown threatening to turn into a scowl, and didn't respond.

"It's not entirely unexpected," Sara said smoothly. "For one, you're exhausted from the heat stroke and from constantly battling the amulet's magic. And aside from that, your body is probably trying to shut down to conserve resources since it's still trying to fight whatever is left of the foreign magic. It's like how people tend to sleep a lot when they're sick, and the amulet is a lot stronger than any cold.

"But you seem fairly resilient, so I expect that your sleeping patterns will begin to even out soon. You'll probably still end up sleeping a lot until you've completely gotten rid of all that troublesome magic, but it won't be so bad once it's not putting up as much of a fight and your body has had a chance to recover more. For now, it's probably not a bad thing to get some rest."

Gray was still clearly displeased with the situation, but Lucy subsided and nodded her understanding. Natsu offered to help Gray back to their room and Happy volunteered to tag along as well, so the three of them headed out after Gray had said his unenthusiastic goodbyes.

He was leaning on Natsu much more heavily than before now, using him as a crutch instead of trying to walk on his own. The expression on his face was one people wore when they were in a lot of pain and trying to hide it, and his breathing was getting labored again.

When they exited the dining room and started down the hallway, Natsu thought about asking him if he was alright. Then he reluctantly decided not to, both because he figured his friend wouldn't give him a straight answer and because he had the feeling that Gray was getting fed up with all the questions about his well-being.

Happy, on the other hand, had no such qualms. "Are you going to start going all weird again? You don't look so good."

"I don't feel so good either," Gray grumbled, grimacing as he stepped on his injured ankle wrong and it twisted a bit. Natsu just readjusted his grip and kept dragging his friend along slowly, wanting to get him to bed before he collapsed or something. "But I'll be okay once I lie down again."

"Hm." Happy didn't seem mollified, but Natsu hurried to forestall him from continuing on the same track.

"I shouldn't have told you that Erza would kill me for waking you up," he griped, elbowing Gray.

The ice mage chuckled breathily. "Of course not. Why would you give me so much potentially incriminating information? Of course I'd use it against you."

"Will you come clean with Erza?"

"Uh, no? Why would I do that?"

"Because I didn't actually wake you up…"

"Of course you did," Gray said, a little of the pain lifting from his features as he grinned at Natsu.

"Um, no I didn't. And you practically just admitted that you made it up."

"What? Did I admit that?" Gray asked, crinkling his brow in mock concentration. "I don't seem to recall ever saying that. What about you, Happy? Did I admit to anything?"

"No sir!"

Natsu groaned. "You guys suck."

Gray and Happy just laughed, and the trio bickered back and forth during the long trip back to their room. It had put them in better moods, but they had just entered the room when Gray suddenly broke off, his expression twisting uncomfortably.

"Ice princess?" Natsu asked cautiously.

"Shit," Gray mumbled.

He let go of Natsu and lunged for the bathroom, stumbling and crashing to the ground before scrambling inside. Natsu frowned and made to move after him, but paused and winced as the sound of retching started up.

"So much for getting him to eat," Happy said with a sigh, although his ears were flattened against his skull and his eyes shone with worry.

Natsu took a deep breath, weighing his options. "Why don't you go make sure he's okay? I'll go get him some water. And if he starts seizing again, yell."

"Good idea," Happy said quietly, barely giving Natsu a second glance as he hurried to the bathroom.

Natsu quickly made his escape and headed back for the dining room.

"Where's Happy?" Lucy asked as the dragon slayer entered without his feline companion.

"With Gray," Natsu said shortly, grabbing a cup and pouring some water into it. "He's throwing everything up." He paused. "Gray, not Happy."

The girls winced, their good humor immediately fading away.

"Really?" Lucy asked, grimacing.

"Really."

"We're going to need to find a way around that," Erza said quietly, pursing her lips. "He really has to be able to eat. Have you seen how much weight he's lost? And he really needs to keep his strength up. It's frightening how weak he's become."

Natsu sighed and nodded. Erza was just voicing what everyone else had been thinking.

"I can make a concoction that helps reduce nausea," Sara volunteered, rubbing at her face wearily. "But I'd need to make a quick trip back to town to pick up a few things. It's not a miracle cure, but it should be able to settle his stomach and let him keep some food down.

"On the other hand, this is probably a problem that will correct itself quickly. This is the first time he's really tried eating in a long time, so it's not that surprising that his body rejected it. And he's still in a lot of pain and possibly had seizures earlier, which only makes things worse. We'll probably have better results next time, as long as we're careful."

"Can't you give him some painkillers or something?" Lucy asked.

Sara sighed. "I put a mixture for pain relief in the soup, but it won't do any good now that he's thrown it up. The problem is that the pain relievers I have on hand really need to be taken with food because they can be harsh on an empty stomach. I'll try giving him some more next time he eats. For now, I've still got some of the sleeping potion."

Natsu bit back a scowl. The healer noticed and smiled tiredly.

"If you give him a smaller dose, he won't sleep for as long."

"Yeah… Well, if you give it to me, I'll ask him if he wants it."

"Just a second."

Sara hurried out of the room and Natsu shifted impatiently as he waited for her to return. This little rendezvous was already taking longer than he wanted it to.

"Well, should we go see how he's doing?" Lucy offered, standing up.

Natsu waved her off. "Don't worry about it. He's just going to want to go right back to sleep anyway."

"Yeah, but–"

"He doesn't want us continually fussing over him," Erza interrupted with a frown. "You know how touchy he can get about these kinds of things. Let's let Natsu and Happy handle this one."

Natsu nodded slightly. That was, of course, the main reason he'd turned Lucy down. He had a pretty good idea of what Gray's pride would and would not allow, given that they operated on fairly similar wavelengths in that respect.

Which made it even more unforgivable that he had underestimated Gray's stubborn pride out in the desert.

Lucy sighed heavily and sat back down. "Well, as long as he'll tell us this time if there's a real problem…"

"He'd better," Erza said, her voice suddenly cold. "I'd like to think that he learned his lesson."

Natsu shrugged. Gray would be Gray, and he probably wouldn't ever be super open about these sorts of things. But Natsu did suspect that he would be a little more honest about how things were going, at least for now. Even if the idiot would still downplay it all.

Luckily, Sara returned and handed a small vial to Natsu, effectively putting an end to the conversation.

"Make sure he drinks all that water too," she added. "We don't want him to get dehydrated again."

Natsu muttered his agreement and took off, hurrying back to the room he shared with Happy and Gray. His friends were still in the bathroom, and he approached cautiously. Happy was chattering away nervously now, but Gray was still and quiet. The ice mage was still on his knees, his head bowed, but at least he seemed to be finished vomiting.

Natsu crouched beside him. "Here."

Gray looked up slowly, and Natsu winced at how deathly pale his skin had gone, only marred by two spots of color on his cheeks to serve as a reminder of the heat plaguing him.

"Thanks," Gray mumbled, his voice a little slurred.

He seemed pretty out of it, making Natsu worry that he might have another fit. He took the cup, but his hands were trembling violently, sloshing the water around a little. Natsu frowned as Gray rinsed out his mouth, not liking the reemergence of the shaking.

"Make sure you drink some of that too. And why are your hands doing that?"

Gray obediently drank the water and shrugged, dropping the now-empty cup on the ground so that he could peer at his hands. He shook one sharply and scowled at it like it was offending him, before his expression melted back into something more pained and nauseous.

"Dunno. I don't feel so good. I hope that doesn't last too long. How am I supposed to mold anything like that?" He frowned. "Not that I can mold anything now anyway."

Natsu winced. "Soon you'll be able to use your magic like normal again."

"Hope so."

Natsu sighed and exchanged a look with Happy, before maneuvering an arm around Gray and slowly pulling him to his feet. Gray sucked in a shuddering breath and flopped against Natsu, deadweight. The dragon slayer looked down at him in concern, but carefully began helping him stagger back to the bed.

"You just seem like you're in a lot of pain, nausea aside," Happy said unhappily.

"It's not great, but I'll just sleep it off, no harm done," Gray mumbled, head lolling.

"No more deserts after this," Natsu said quietly, grunting as he tugged his friend forward a couple more painful steps.

Gray's eyes fluttered open and he frowned up at Natsu for a moment, pulling himself out of whatever daze he'd started falling into.

"A lot of it is just from the amulet," he said carefully. "Would've still happened even if we weren't in the desert."

"Ah, but let's not forget the heat stroke."

"That…was my fault too. I screwed up and let it go too far even though I knew better."

"Yeah, but–"

"You suck at apologizing, Natsu." Gray huffed out a laugh, although he automatically winced and grimaced afterwards. "Chill out. It's fine. Give me a few days and I'll be back to normal." He grinned at the dragon slayer. "But I'm picking the next job."

Natsu swallowed and looked away as they reached the bed and Gray collapsed onto it.

"Yeah," he said softly. "You can pick whatever you want."

He was undoubtedly opening himself up to some frigid and miserable things, but he wasn't going to complain about that right now.

Gray shot him a look. "Damn straight," he said instead of voicing whatever was on his mind.

"What do you have?" Happy interrupted, eyeing the bottle Natsu pulled out of his pocket.

"Sara said she didn't have any pain relievers that could be taken on an empty stomach, but she gave me some more of that sleeping potion." Natsu eyed Gray and raised an eyebrow. "Do you want some?"

Gray hesitated for a second but then turned away to curl up in a miserable ball, ignoring the blankets. "No."

"She said that since it was a smaller dose, you wouldn't–"

"I don't need it," Gray interrupted, closing his eyes. "I'll fall asleep on my own. Eventually. No more sleeping potions."

Natsu sighed. "Well, if you change your mind…"

"Just leave it on the table and I can get it if it's really that bad."

Natsu rolled his eyes but did as Gray suggested, before settling down on his own bed to lean back and stare at the ceiling. Happy hesitated a moment longer before creeping over to curl up by his side.

Gray opened one eye and sighed. "Go away."

Natsu ignored him.

"We'll leave when you fall asleep," Happy offered when Natsu didn't respond.

He looked up at the dragon slayer uncertainly, and Natsu nodded almost imperceptibly even though that wasn't entirely true. What, did Gray really think they were going to leave him alone after his little show earlier? No way in hell.

Gray groaned but let his eyes drift shut again. "You'd better. It's getting kind of creepy how everyone is watching me sleep. If I find out you stayed here the whole time, I will definitely get you in trouble with Erza. I'm sure there's a spider in here somewhere that I can blame."

Natsu chuckled, even though he was only half amused. "I'll take my chances."

"Seriously."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll leave. Guess you'd better fall asleep fast so that you don't have to deal with us anymore."

Gray snorted and stayed quiet, and everyone else lapsed into silence as well. After a few minutes he started tossing and turning a little, looking for a comfortable position, his expression tight with discomfort.

"Come here, Happy," he said finally, after what must have been at least half an hour.

The Exceed shared a puzzled look with Natsu, but obediently hopped over to Gray's bed. Gray wrapped his arms around Happy, hugging him against his chest as he curled back into the fetal position.

"Gray!" Happy yelped in surprise.

"The quieter you are, the faster I'll fall asleep," Gray mumbled, closing his eyes.

"But…aren't I just making you hotter? You're already really overheated…"

"Yeah. I don't care."

"Uh…"

Natsu stared at his two friends for a moment, watching Happy snuggling up to Gray and Gray hugging the Exceed like a stupid stuffed animal or something. Then he threw an arm behind his head and turned back to his scrutiny of the ceiling, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Gray might act tough, but sometimes he was a big softie.

It was still another five or ten minutes before Gray's ragged breathing finally evened out and lost its pained edge. Natsu glanced back over and smirked at Happy's uncertain frown.

"He's asleep," the Exceed whispered.

"Mhm."

"But…"

Happy wriggled a little, testing the waters, and Gray just mumbled something under his breath and hugged the feline closer. Happy gave up and looked at Natsu with pleading eyes.

Natsu chuckled quietly and returned his gaze to the ceiling. "I guess we'll just have to take our chances with Erza."

* * *

 **Note:** **I seem to have bounced between wanting the story to be angsty hurt/comfort, sickeningly sweet, and humorous. I'm not sure if that makes it well-balanced or bipolar. And between Natsu's denial of his own worry and Gray's inability to admit to himself that he doesn't really want to do things alone... Half the story's problems can be explained by Boys And Their Pride.**

 **Don't worry, I got tired of all the sleeping pretty quickly too. I considered writing several chapters of recovery and then laughed in my own face, if that's even possible.**

 **emmahoshi: I've never really done the fancy hair salons, but they're famous for their gossip, ha ha. I guess boredom could explain it. Ha, it just goes to show how bored he was. (Although I'd disappear too lol) I'm going to assume it wasn't a super fancy meal lol Well, things _are_ getting better, but yeah, there's still the question of permanent damage hanging over everyone. "Magical soultion" XD A soul potion? Like chicken soup for the soul! (Sorry, sorry, I'm done lol) They'll be heading back soon enough because I got bored of all the recovery stuff and this story only has three more chapters :3**


	14. Gray can't keep his hands off his magic

**Note: Guess who got tired of writing a bunch of recovery chapters? No, it's not a trick question; the answer is me. Yay, baby time skip. Trust me, you guys would probably get tired of reading a bunch of chapters of Gray sleeping too.**

 **Disclaimer: The author denies all responsibility for damages that might result from laughing at this story, including but not limited to food in keyboards and accidental strife in relationships.**

 **: )**

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

 _(In which Gray can't keep his hands off his magic and learns about a new local legend.)_

* * *

When Gray woke up to find both Happy and Natsu still in the room, he was annoyed. He understood that part of this was his own fault because he'd basically held Happy hostage, and he could even acknowledge that his friends were just trying to be nice. That wasn't the part he was annoyed about.

He was mostly annoyed by what else Natsu and Happy staying here meant. Not even the implication that they were still worried and fussing over him, although Gray wasn't super thrilled about that either. He was annoyed because his friends were _still_ looking after him instead of looking after themselves. Because Natsu and Happy should be hanging out with the girls, or at least be doing something other than dozing in here from boredom. And Gray could definitely—kind of, sort of, maybe—take care of himself now.

It seemed like everyone was starting to settle back down a little, but Gray could still remember their frightened faces as they watched him writhe around in pain, Natsu's anger born of fear as he ranted, Lucy's tear-filled eyes as she held his hand, Erza's exhaustion and worry as she sat with him through the night. He understood why things had turned out like this, he could appreciate that it was only this way because they cared about him, but he was tired of watching them wait around on him.

Gray sighed and stretched out, uncurling his limbs. The movement dislodged Happy, who was still curled up in a drowsy ball against his chest.

The Exceed yawned and opened his eyes. "Gra–?"

"Shh," Gray whispered, grinning crookedly as he nodded towards the other bed, where Natsu's boredom must have eventually gotten the better of him.

Happy rolled his eyes at the sleeping dragon slayer, but obediently lowered his voice. "How are you feeling?"

Gray shrugged. The rest seemed to have done him some good, at least. He was still achy and overheated, but he felt stronger and less shaky.

"Alright."

He stood up carefully, pausing a moment to make sure that he wouldn't just topple right back over. Well, he was still weak, but at least he could stay upright and move around a little. Trailing one hand along the wall just in case, he stepped over to Natsu's bed.

"What are you doing?" Happy asked.

"I don't know if it will work and it's probably a really bad idea either way, but it would be worth it to see the look on his face," Gray replied, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Uh, are you really sure that–?"

"Yup."

Gray took a steadying breath and braced himself. This was going to hurt, but he really did want to see Natsu's face. And more than that, he needed to know if he was still capable of this. So he cautiously reached for his magic and teased it out, letting his hands flutter into familiar gestures.

The parasitic magic inside him immediately protested and the simmering heat in his chest blazed up into an inferno, but he just gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate on the ice in the midst of the flames. It took several long seconds, but he eventually found what he was looking for and managed to mold a couple small chips of ice. They weren't much to look at, they were truly abysmal specimens, but Gray had made them.

He felt a triumphant smile creep over his face. Even though it hurt like hell and he might regret it later, he couldn't help but feel intensely relieved to know that he _could_ still do a little magic, even if it wasn't much. He still didn't know if his magic would ever go back to normal, but just knowing that it wasn't gone for good made him want to cry in relief.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Gray dropped the ice cubes down Natsu's shirt. The instant reaction was gratifying. Natsu's eyes immediately flew open and he sat bolt upright, yelping loudly and scrabbling at the ice.

Gray laughed, wrapping his arms around his ribs in a vain attempt to stop them from aching with the movement. Slumping back against the wall because his little party trick had left him more exhausted than he'd like to admit and the fire was still hungry, he grinned at his friend.

"What the hell?" Natsu demanded, turning on him.

The sound of running footsteps started up outside in the hallway, which perhaps wasn't surprising since Natsu was loud enough to wake the dead.

"Your face," Gray managed between breathy laughs. "It was priceless!"

"Why would you do that? Ugh!"

"It was either that or get you in trouble with Erza like I said I would. You should be thanking me."

Gray glanced over as Lucy and Erza appeared in the doorway, both looking half-panicked. Oops. They were probably worried that something had happened to him. He smiled at them reassuringly and tried to keep the pain off his face.

"Seriously? I can't believe you–" Natsu broke off and frowned. "Wait, did you just use magic?"

Gray's smile turned into a lopsided grin. "Yeah," he said with great satisfaction.

"Magic?" Lucy's eyes lit up. "That's great! See, we told you it would work out!"

Erza started to smile as well but then frowned instead, her brows knitting together. "Didn't you say that you thought the reason you started having seizures again was that you tried to use your magic?"

Gray winced and averted his gaze. She'd picked up on that a little too quickly. He knew that using his magic would have consequences, but he had just needed to know that he could do it anyway. Besides, he was certainly stronger now than he had been last time he'd tried, even if he was still pretty weak. He didn't think that he had to worry about something as bad as seizures this time around. Pain, yes. Heat and vicious magic attacks, yes. Seizures, no. At this point, he had been without his magic for so long and was so worried about it that he'd take any side effect besides death.

"Don't worry, I'm not as weak as I was then," he said cheerfully. "No more seizures."

Happy eyed him disapprovingly. "You know, you managed to stand on your own pretty well before pulling that stunt. Now you're sliding down the wall. Seriously, you looked a lot better when you first woke up."

"It's not a big deal."

"Ha. I think even you know better, considering that you said you knew this was a bad idea before trying it."

"Still worth it."

"You _idiot_ ," Natsu growled, standing up to glower at him. "Out of everything you could have done, you decided to risk your health on making ice cubes to wake me up with? Seriously?"

"Oh, Gray," Lucy said, sighing and shaking her head.

"Maybe you shouldn't be trying to use your magic until you recover more," Erza added. It was phrased as a suggestion, but definitely had the tone of a command.

"And–" Natsu broke off and his scowl deepened. "Why are you still grinning like an idiot?"

To be fair, Gray really was trying to wipe the stupid grin off his face. He just couldn't seem to quite manage it, because the corners of his mouth kept creeping upwards of their own accord. It would only make the others more irritated that he was smiling while they were lecturing him, but he couldn't help it.

"I did magic," he answered, eyes lighting up as the excitement temporarily drowned out some of the pain. "Thank God."

Despite their annoyance with his stupidity, his friends softened visibly.

"We told you it would work out," Lucy said again, smiling.

"Oh, alright," Erza conceded, shaking her head. For a brief second, a smile played at the corners of her lips too. "It's good to know that you're recovering and can still use your magic." Her eyes hardened again as she added, "But now that we know that, you need to take a break and not use any more until you've recovered more. We don't want to see you losing progress because you're trying to do too much too fast."

Gray nodded and tried to look suitably chastened, dropping his gaze to the ground and fighting to keep the goofy grin at bay.

"I'm serious, Gray. No magic."

"No magic," he agreed.

He almost meant it.

* * *

Leaving his magic alone was easier said than done. It was like having a scab that was impossible not to pick at, even if it was kind of gross and wasn't the best idea in the world. Or like waiting for a message from someone and being unable to stop continually checking to see if it had arrived, despite knowing that if it wasn't there two minutes ago then it probably wouldn't be there now.

Gray tried, he really did, but it was impossible to ignore it completely. He had to keep testing his magic to see if it was getting stronger, if it was going back to normal, if the amulet's magic was starting to put up less of a fight. He didn't usually try to actually _use_ his magic, so in that way he was following Erza's orders, in letter if not in spirit.

What he _would_ do was test his magic. Mostly he just reached for it, grasped it, made sure that he _could_ mold it if he wanted to. In essence, he was just poking at it. Usually that was alright. He might get a spike of pain or heat, perhaps a dull ache or weariness, but that wasn't too bad.

The problem was that, occasionally, the amulet's magic poked back.

That usually manifested itself as hell on earth, although it was becoming more bearable over time as the foreign magic continued to lose its potency. Sometimes the heat came back to consume him, the constant and mildly uncomfortable overheated feeling blazing up into a raging fire for a bit. Sometimes the pain was so intense that it would set his whole body shaking and nausea would rear its ugly head again. And then afterwards he usually felt like he needed to sleep for a week, although he tried to tone it down so that he didn't worry his friends.

Maybe it wasn't the best thing to be doing right now, but Gray was careful and that would have to be enough since he couldn't seem to stop entirely. He was careful not to try to do too much, and to wait until he was alone or no one was paying attention, although that was easier said than done because sometimes that scab itched something fierce and he couldn't help himself from poking at it.

The one absolute rule was to never even so much as look at his magic funny right before eating. Last time he'd done that, he'd instantly become nauseous and had then thrown everything up, even setting aside the trembling fit that had come right before. He had learned his lesson.

On the bright side, the nausea wasn't usually too bad anymore and Sara had brewed up some kind of medicine to help keep it that way. As a result, Gray was able to keep food down now, even though he still had to eat small portions.

The constant tiredness and weakness were harder to shake. He could usually get around on his own with little to no assistance, but he was still unsteady and slow sometimes. And although he wasn't sleeping twenty hours a day anymore, he was almost always in some stage of tiredness, from mildly drowsy to completely exhausted. As much as he wanted to cut down on the sleeping, he still ended up sneaking in the occasional nap when things got to be too much.

This was one of those times. The exhaustion had swept over him out of nowhere, and he'd tried fighting it off for all of five minutes before Erza finally told him to just go take a nap if he couldn't keep his eyes open. Although he resented being sent to naptime like a toddler, Gray gratefully retreated to his bed and slept like the dead for… Well, he wasn't sure exactly how long he had slept. Since he was now allowed to sleep by himself, he hadn't had anyone to tell him what time it was when he woke up.

Sure, he could have just gone and asked, but then everyone would know that he was awake. And as bad as it sounded, he didn't particularly want them to know that just yet. His friends were great and thankfully they weren't as freaked out as they had been a few days ago, but they were still always hovering over him and watching every move he made. It wasn't quite as smothering as it had been in the beginning, but Gray had always liked to have some time to himself and being around his friends every moment of the day was driving him crazy.

But really, he just wanted some time to test out his magic without getting yelled at. In the few days since the official no-magic decree had been handed down by Erza, Gray had only dared try to use his magic once. Well, twice, if you counted right now.

He had settled himself cross-legged on the floor next to his bed and resolved to take ten or fifteen minutes to play with his magic before hunting down the others. Last time he'd tried this it had tired him out so much that he had just keeled over, which was why he'd chosen to start on the floor this time.

On the one hand, he was a little reluctant to try again because if something went wrong then it wouldn't be a lot of fun and Erza might strangle him if she found out. But on the other hand, he'd been feeling pretty good for the last day and a half, and the amulet's magic hadn't unsheathed its claws on him again when he'd poked at his magic. He took this as a good sign, and hoped that it meant he wouldn't suffer too many adverse effects this time around.

Still, he was cautious as he cycled through some basic molding techniques and scrutinized the ice he created. The results were half satisfying and half disappointing. It was definitely better than that pathetic molding he'd been doing back in the desert, but his magic was still clumsy and more brittle than it should be.

The most satisfying thing was that although using his magic was draining and left him exhausted, it didn't hurt the way he was afraid it would. Maybe the foreign magic was weak enough now that it couldn't do much. He could still feel a faint echo of it curling in his chest, but aside from the tiredness and uncomfortable heat, there wasn't much sign of it.

Maybe that meant they'd be able to go home soon. Gray had been hoping that they could head back to the guild now that he was feeling strong enough to make the trip, but Erza had also decreed that they weren't leaving until the amulet's magic had disappeared completely and Sara had done an exhaustive magical examination to make sure that he really was alright. It was taking much too long, and although Gray had grown more comfortable with the villagers and appreciated all they'd done for him, he was tired of the desert. He was ready to go back to air conditioning.

He was debating whether to keep going a little farther or call it a day and go find the others, when he heard quiet footsteps approaching from the hallway.

"Shit," he mumbled.

Waving his hands to dispel all evidence of his misdeeds, he jumped to his feet and collapsed onto the bed, closing his eyes and forcing his breathing to even out. Usually his friends would leave him alone while he slept, but occasionally someone would drop by to check on him anyway. Thankfully Natsu had decided that things were all good again and had mostly gone back to his normal annoying self, even if there was still always something lingering beneath his cheerful exterior. He might not see any reason to drop by, but every once in a while one of the girls would. Mostly Lucy, and Gray recognized her footsteps now. He'd gotten better at telling everyone's apart now that he'd spent so much time listening for them.

The door creaked open softly, and Gray considered his options. He could continue to pretend he was asleep, but then he'd probably be stuck in here for another half hour or so to allay suspicions, and he didn't want to risk pushing himself too far with his magic. Or he could 'wake up', since he had been about to go track down his friends anyway.

Silence cloaked the room for a long moment, and then came the sound of the door swinging shut. Gray stretched, rustling the blankets. The door paused, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Lucy watching him with a guilty expression.

"Oh, I didn't mean to wake you up," she said.

Well, Gray had certainly thought this out well. He grinned and opened his mouth to reassure her, but paused to smother a genuine yawn first.

"It's okay. Seriously. I'm tired of sleeping anyway."

One corner of her mouth twitched upwards. "You're just trying to make me feel better."

Yeah, but not for the reason she was thinking. Gray sighed and slithered out of bed, pausing for a moment to take stock of his internal state. He was tired, but not so weak that he was going to fall over. Good.

"If you say so," he said finally. "So, Luce, what brings you here?"

"I was just, uh…" She trailed off and flushed, her gaze dropping to the ground as she shifted awkwardly from foot to foot.

Gray hid a grin. "You were checking up on me because you're having a hard time kicking the habit."

"Um, yeah, kind of," she mumbled. "Well, the others were occupied, so it's not like I really had anything better to do."

"Occupied? What are they doing?"

"Well, you know how we said that we've been getting to know some of the villagers over the past few weeks since there's not much to do while you're asleep?"

"So they're hanging out with villagers? Why aren't you?"

"Not exactly." Lucy shook her head, her embarrassment melting into exasperation. "I mean, that's what it started off as. Natsu was bored, so he and Happy went to play with some of the kids. And then, next thing we know, half the village is on fire."

" _What?_ "

"Okay, maybe not half," Lucy conceded. "But he got overexcited and wrecked a few buildings, and Erza's been yelling at him."

Gray sighed and rolled his eyes. He supposed that it was too much to expect Natsu to go weeks without destroying something.

"Great." A sly smirk spread across his face. "Well, while they're 'occupied', why don't we go take a stroll around the village? I'm sick of being cooped up. I'll even take the heat at this point."

Every couple days or so, he'd get antsy enough to brave the sweltering outdoors heat. Inside was usually more along the lines of uncomfortably warm, but being out in the sun was a whole other story. Still, he could only stay inside for so long before feeling caged.

Lucy hesitated. "Well, if you're feeling up to it…"

"I'm fine," Gray said with a chuckle, heading for the door.

The two friends slipped outside, but Gray paused and peered around the corner of the building as he heard raised voices. Well, raised voice. Natsu was looking pretty cowed already, shuffling his feet and peering at the ground as Happy fluttered by his side for moral support. Erza was downright furious, eyes blazing and hands jabbing the air sharply to punctuate her words.

"…and you thought it was a good idea to destroy their homes? Really? They've been nothing but nice to us for weeks, and after everything they've done for Gray…"

Gray winced automatically. Sara and the village leader, along with a few other nervous villagers, were hovering anxiously on the sidelines as they watched the altercation, but no one dared interfere. Gray didn't blame them.

"Wow, she's really mad," he said quietly.

"Yeah." Lucy sighed. "I think it's worse because we've been living off of their hospitality for a couple weeks now, and you would have died if it weren't for them. So repaying them by wrecking their village seems pretty bad."

"I guess." Gray was grateful too, although he wished that everything didn't always seem to circle back to him.

A smoking wreck behind Erza caught Gray's eye, and he resisted the urge to let out a low whistle as he surveyed the damage. There were at least two or three buildings that had holes blasted into them and had clearly sustained some fire damage.

"Wow, he really did a number on them, huh?"

Lucy smirked. "Yeah. I imagine your room would've looked about the same if he'd used a roar in it."

Gray gave her a look of injured innocence. "Are you saying that you think I _lied_? I'm deeply wounded."

"I'm not saying anything," she said, chuckling and shaking her head.

"…and what do you have to say for yourself?" Erza demanded.

"It was an accident," Natsu mumbled.

"An accident? An _accident_? I'll _show_ you an accident!"

Gray ducked back behind the building, dragging Lucy with him, as Erza pounced at Natsu and the dragon slayer yelped and took off running. Gray must have missed some impressive yelling, because Natsu wouldn't be running away without a good reason. Usually he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to fight Erza.

The spectators all watched, wide-eyed, as the irate requip mage chased after Natsu and Happy, waving a sword around as she continued her tirade.

"I'm sorry!" Natsu wailed, disappearing in between a row of houses, Erza hot on his heels.

"Oh, you will be!"

Gray clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. "Oh man, this is great."

"You wouldn't think it was as funny if she was targeting you," Lucy remarked.

"Ah, but she's not. I'm too much of a poor little invalid to be worth targeting."

"That excuse will only work for so long, you know."

"Good," Gray muttered. He was tired of being the resident invalid.

"Well, it was only a matter of time before he slipped up. And with how stressed out everyone has been… Well, I guess it's not surprising that it blew up into a big thing."

Gray bit his lip and shrugged halfheartedly. He had a pretty good idea of how much he'd scared everyone without all the reminders. Glancing around, he spotted a viable escape route that would take them past the spectators unseen.

"Why don't we go that way?" he suggested. "And let's keep an eye out for Erza and the flame-brained idiot. I don't want to get caught up in that mess."

Lucy arched an eyebrow. "I get wanting to avoid Natsu's predicament, but why are you trying to get around everyone else too?"

Gray grinned, eyes shining. "It'll be fun to see how far we can get without anyone seeing us. Like a game."

"You're such a child sometimes," she muttered, shaking her head. "You do realize that this is a village? Where lots of people live? Lots of people are inside their houses, and they'll see us as we go past if they look out."

"You're such a spoilsport, Lucy. Come on, I've been bored out of my mind. Humor me."

Lucy rolled her eyes, but after a few more teasing comments, she agreed to play along. In truth, it didn't really turn out like Gray had envisioned, mostly because Lucy was right. He decided that he would settle for just staying out of the way of the rest of the team and the villagers he was actually acquainted with. If no one approached them and tried to talk, then it was basically like no one saw them. Good enough. In any case, as long as they avoided the team, Sara, and the village leader, no one would ask questions.

It seemed a little silly, but in the end it was just a way of postponing the inevitable. Concerns about Gray's health had diminished over the past few days, but they'd definitely pop up again once everyone saw that he was awake. His friends would have to ask him how he was feeling, Sara might want to do another checkup, and some kind of comment related to his condition would crop up eventually. Gray appreciated the concern, but it was a little much. The only upside was that Natsu was finally back to mostly normal and would now sooner crack dumb jokes at Gray's expense than nag him about his condition. He could be annoying, but Gray appreciated the normalcy.

What Gray did not appreciate was the heat. He had the feeling that his stroll with Lucy would be a short one. Even sticking to what sparse shadows they could find between the buildings, the desert sun beating down on them quickly became uncomfortable. It sapped Gray's energy and left him more exhausted than before, but he stubbornly ignored it in favor of chatting cheerfully with Lucy.

"Oh crap," he hissed, cutting off Lucy's story of yet another dumb thing Natsu had managed to do.

Yanking the blonde back between a couple houses, he motioned for her to be quiet as Natsu went racing past, Erza still following behind him and Happy encouraging him to run faster. Gray and Lucy watched until their friends had disappeared again, although they were still loud enough to be easily heard.

"Honestly," Gray muttered, shaking his head. "They've been at it for nearly ten minutes now."

"Either Erza's _really_ mad or she's enjoying it," Lucy agreed with a laugh.

Gray opened his mouth to respond, but nearly jumped out of his skin when something touched his shoulder. Spinning around, he was just in time to see a dark-skinned villager retreat a couple steps to watch him with unreadable eyes. Lucy let out an undignified squeak as she whipped around as well, and Gray idly reflected that they'd just lost their non-game.

"Ugh, you almost scared the life out of me," Lucy mumbled, resting her hand over her chest for a moment as she waited for her heartrate to slow back down.

"Can we help you?" Gray added politely.

"I, ah, just wanted to say thank you," the villager said, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. He kept darting nervous looks at Gray, who wasn't sure what the problem was.

"Uh…"

Gray had been cloistered inside for most of the time he'd been here and most of the villagers were still rather wary of strangers, although they seemed to have started warming up to the rest of the team while Gray was unconscious and then recovering, so he hadn't really talked to many people aside from the team, Sara, and the village leader. His other interactions with the villagers had mostly been brief, although a couple of the kidnapping victims they'd rescued from the treasure hunters had stopped by to express their gratitude.

Oh. Gray squinted at the boy—he couldn't be older than maybe sixteen or seventeen—and tried to remember if he'd seen him back at the city. It was hard to say. He hadn't exactly been in his right mind then.

"You…were one of the ones kidnapped by the treasure hunters?" Gray asked slowly.

"Yes, I was with group you found first. You took us to Lucy."

The boy nodded at Lucy, who smiled back at him. Gray resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The villagers seemed to have taken a liking to Lucy, perhaps because she'd spent more time trying to get to know them. A lot of them would talk to her in ways they wouldn't talk to the others, and they all seemed to know her name, even when some of the other mages got stuck with descriptive labels.

"Yeah, sorry," Gray apologized sheepishly. "My memory is still kind of fuzzy."

"Yes, the heat stroke." The villager immediately turned his attention away from Lucy and started giving Gray that funny look again. Come to think of it, a lot of the villagers he'd interacted with had looked at him like that. He wasn't sure why. "We are very impressed that you saved us while heat stroke was so bad."

His nervous expression softened into something almost admiring. "So I wanted to thank you for rescuing me and my friends."

"Uh, I didn't really–"

"Thank you, God Slayer."

The boy turned and scampered off, leaving Gray blinking after him uncertainly.

"What the hell?" he wondered aloud.

Lucy started laughing, and he turned his blank stare to her instead. It took her a few seconds to calm down enough to speak.

"I'm surprised it took this long for someone to say that in front of you."

"Huh?"

"It's your new nickname," she explained cheerfully.

"I don't understand," Gray said forlornly, totally lost. "And why do all the villagers look like they're afraid I'm going to eat them or something?"

Lucy frowned a little. "Oh, you haven't figured it out yet?"

"What?"

"Remember what the villagers think the amulet was?"

It took Gray a second, but then his eyes widened slightly. "You don't mean–?"

"A god," Lucy confirmed, nodding. She smiled at him gently. "They aren't scared of you, Gray. They're in awe of you. They think you killed a powerful and dangerous god."

Gray stared at her. "But I didn't."

"No, but they think you did."

"And you didn't set them straight?"

"Who are we to stomp all over their beliefs?" she asked with a shrug. "They really believe this stuff. And anyway, it's kind of cool to have a 'God Slayer' for a friend."

"Don't they know that there already _are_ god slayers?" Gray mumbled, still stunned.

Lucy laughed. "I doubt it. They don't know much about magic, if you recall, and god slayers are pretty obscure to start with."

Gray groaned and rubbed at his face tiredly. "This is screwed up on so many levels."

"Why? It's kind of sweet. You're like a local hero now. The kids all want to be you. They play 'desert god vs. God Slayer'. It's adorable."

"Except that I'm not a god slayer and I didn't kill anything except for a couple treasure hunters," he said sourly, ignoring Lucy's wince. "I think they'd find it a lot less impressive if they realized that all I really did was stumble around like an idiot with heat stroke for a few days, take out a couple weak enemies with truly pathetic molding, and try to contain the amulet's magic with a lousy shield that ultimately failed."

Lucy tried to smooth out her grimace and then nudged Gray conspiratorially. "Lighten up," she said cheerfully. "Enjoy your newfound fame. You're a legend! Like, seriously, I could make a great novel out of this." She threw her arms out wide, her gaze going out of focus slightly as she laid out the plot. "Sexy hero gets lost in desert and suffers from severe heat stroke, but manages to find ancient, cursed city and valiantly fights all-powerful desert god, sustaining terrible injuries but pulling off an impossible victory despite his weakened state. That's a bestseller right there."

"Well, I'll take the 'sexy' part, anyway," Gray deadpanned.

"Huh?" It took Lucy a second, but then she flushed. "Oh! I, uh, I didn't mean–"

Gray chuckled. "Novels are all about exaggeration anyway, I suppose. I guess it could make a good story if you overlooked some things. Word of advice: leave out the unattractive vomiting and fainting. Oh, and definitely smooth out the part where your hero basically has no idea what's going on around him because he can't focus on anything.

"Huh, you're right, this is a lot better when you romanticize it," he added, grinning. "Make sure you gloss over how bad my molding got. Good heroes have to have impressive magic. And give me a really cool god to fight and make the win really heroic and all that. Oh, and maybe leave out the part about passing out afterwards. That's kind of lame."

He paused as he noticed the unhappy look Lucy was giving him. Arching an eyebrow in question, he wondered what had gotten into her. Wasn't she the one who had started this?

"Maybe it would make a better story if I didn't exaggerate anything," she said quietly. "It's already impressive enough how it is."

Gray snorted. "Who wants to read chapter after chapter of some fool wandering around the desert lost, slowly succumbing to heat stroke? Boring. And seriously, having a god would be way cooler than what anticlimactic thing we actually ended up with. Plus extra chapters of recovery where the protagonist is unconscious for days and then spends half his time sleeping even once he finally wakes up? No one wants to read that, Luce. You're an author, aren't you? Sometimes you have to pander to the readers. I'm starting to question your literary savvy."

Lucy didn't so much as crack a smile. Instead, she sighed heavily and fixed him with a serious, melancholy look.

"Sometimes I think you're too hard on yourself, Gray. Yeah, this wasn't a really smooth job and we screwed a lot of things up and you didn't speak up when you should have. But you know, in the end, we still managed to make it work. Maybe it would have been more flashy if you'd singlehandedly fought off a god or whatever, but isn't the truth already impressive enough? Not many people could have held off such a powerful magic even at full strength, much less when half dead from heat stroke. Maybe you didn't kill a god like the villagers think you did, but does that really mean that they're wrong to call you a hero anyway?"

Gray opened his mouth, paused, and slowly closed it again. What was he really supposed to say to that?

"She lllllllikes him!"

Gray and Lucy both jumped in surprise and whipped around, eyes wide. Sure enough, Happy was hovering in the air behind them, a smug smirk plastered on his face. Natsu and Erza were there as well, but thankfully the requip mage appeared a lot calmer than before, although Natsu was still throwing her nervous looks and edging away.

"Stupid cat!" Lucy hissed, face red. "Where did you even come from, anyway?"

"Erza finally decided to let Natsu live," the Exceed said happily, still looking much too pleased with himself. "So we went looking for you, but you weren't inside and Gray wasn't in our room."

"And just how long have you been there?" Lucy demanded. "You shouldn't sneak up on people and eavesdrop like that!"

"Not very long," Erza replied dismissively. "I was all for leaving and letting you two have your chat, but _someone_ decided to interrupt anyway." She directed a glare at Happy, who suddenly looked a lot less smug as he wilted under her gaze.

Gray hid a smirk of his own. To be honest, he wasn't all that disappointed that he and Lucy had been interrupted. Things had been getting a little heavy for his taste.

"She _is_ right though, you know," Erza added. Gray grimaced faintly and leaned back against the building behind him. "I can't say much for your intelligence since you were stupid not to tell us what was going on, but you did do an impressive job of holding off the amulet."

"Point taken," Gray mumbled with a sigh, shifting uncomfortably. He missed the days when he wasn't always the center of attention. Let Natsu have the limelight—Gray was over it.

He was about to suggest that they head back inside since the heat was wearing him down and giving him the beginnings of another headache, but Natsu finally seemed to lose his fear of Erza.

"I dunno, it _was_ kind of lame," the dragon slayer said critically. "I mean, you passed out afterwards, and all you've done since then is sleep."

Erza drew herself up to her full height and rounded on him, her eyes blazing as she prepared to chew him out again. Natsu shrank back, realizing his mistake, and looked like he might be about to take off running again. Gray briefly entertained the idea of letting this run its course, but even though it would be amusing to see Natsu get in trouble again, he'd really rather get everyone back inside. It was hot out here.

"You should be more respectful, flame brain," he drawled haughtily, crossing his arms loosely across his chest, careful of his still-tender ribs, and letting his lips drift into a sardonic half-smile. "After all, I am a hero of legend, slayer of gods, and you are but a lowly dragon slayer. I'm afraid that you are sorely outclassed."

" _What?_ "

Gray choked back a laugh as Natsu instantly forgot about the imminent threat and abandoned his escape attempt in order to glower at his rival. Lucy was trying and failing to hide a grin, Happy didn't even bother trying not to laugh, and even Erza paused and deflated a little, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"You're an impostor!" Natsu fumed, throwing his hands in the air. "At least I'm the real deal!"

"Ha, did you miss that whole part about–?" Gray had pushed away from the wall to stand upright again, but stumbled back a half-step as a brief wave of dizziness made his head spin. Sucking in a ragged breath, he slumped back against the wall and closed his eyes as he waited for the vertigo to pass.

"Gray? Gray!"

"Just a second," he mumbled, the words heavy and awkward in his mouth.

He took a few more seconds to pull himself together, to wait for the dizziness to recede to a bearable level and the sudden nausea to retreat, and then opened his eyes again. Unsurprisingly, everyone looked like they were about to go into panic mode again, and even Natsu was looking worried, his annoyance fading away. Gray sighed heavily and straightened up, letting the fingers of one hand just barely brush against the wall in case of another attack.

"I'm okay, but can we go inside now?" he asked tiredly, shoulders slumping a little as heat-induced exhaustion fell over him once more. "It's really hot out here."

"Of course," Erza said immediately. "You shouldn't be out in the heat for too long. But are you sure–?"

"Yeah," he interrupted, turning away as he made his leaden feet start moving back towards the leader's house. "The heat always does this to me eventually. Usually it wouldn't happen so quickly, but I'm still pretty weak right now."

His friends followed him back, pestering him with worried questions about his health. He wanted to ask why they were so worried now when this was all fairly commonplace stuff that happened often enough if he was out in the heat for too long, but he knew the answer so he didn't bother.

"Could you tone it down?" he grumbled eventually. "I can feel another headache coming on, and you're not really helping."

"Headache?" Natsu asked. "Since when do you get headaches?"

Gray scowled, his discomfort making him irritable. "Since almost every time I'm out in extreme heat for more than a few minutes."

Natsu blinked at him uncertainly and then frowned. "I didn't know…"

"Of course you didn't," Gray snapped. "You think I'd give you more ammunition to taunt me with?"

"I guess that explains why you weren't happy with Natsu that morning you woke him up and he yelled in your face," Lucy remarked with a sigh.

Gray paused to stare at her blankly. His memories from their desert trip were still fragmented, and it wasn't easy to sort through them when his head was throbbing.

"Oh," he said after a few seconds as he finally figured out what she was talking about. "Yeah, that was why."

"Huh, I thought it was weird how you just said that he was being too loud instead of getting annoyed at him for being a jerk," Happy said.

"I wasn't a jerk," Natsu muttered.

"Uh, yeah, you were."

"Whatever."

"It's fine," Gray interrupted, shaking his head as he started into the building. "It doesn't mat–" He broke off and stopped short just inside the door, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Gray?" Erza asked cautiously.

"That's weird," he mumbled to himself. "I don't really feel it anymore."

"Don't feel what?"

Gray ignored her for a moment, instead focusing his attention inwards as he searched for the presence that had become all too familiar over the past days. It wasn't there. Or maybe it was hiding or something. Maybe there were still echoes lingering somewhere, but he could barely feel it at all.

"What don't you feel, Gray?" Lucy pressed.

He frowned and looked up at his friends. "It's too cool in here. Well, it's uncomfortably warm, obviously, but it's not super hot."

"Duh," Natsu said, rolling his eyes. Apparently the stupidity of Gray's response had convinced him that nothing was really wrong. "It's cooler inside."

"Well yeah, but… It's usually always burning hot now, because of the amulet's magic. But I don't feel it."

Gray frowned down at himself. That normal burning in his chest wasn't there, and his blood didn't feel superheated as if his veins ran with fire. It was true that the internal heat had started fading to a more bearable level these days, along with the other symptoms of the dying magic, but surely he should still be able to feel some of it.

"You don't feel the amulet's magic?" Erza asked. Her eyes lit up for a second, before a frown crept over her face again. "But you weren't looking too good just a minute ago."

Gray waved off her concern impatiently. "That's just normal heat stuff. I don't need the amulet for that."

"So you're okay now?" Natsu asked hopefully, a relieved grin spreading across his face.

"Aw, it's cute how much you care," Lucy cooed.

Natsu immediately flushed and tried to backpedal. "No, no, I don't! I, uh, I…I want to go home. Yeah. And we haven't been able to because the stupid ice block got himself hurt. But if he's fine now then we can go back to the guild already."

Lucy started snickering and Erza smirked.

"Oh boy, the denial is too much to take," Happy muttered, rolling his eyes. "Why am I always stuck with these idiots?"

Gray snorted, but was only half paying attention. "I don't know if it's totally gone or not. I guess I'll have to wait and see if I can feel it again later. Or maybe Sara can check it out, although maybe we should wait for that in case it's still here after all. Wouldn't want her to get caught up in it."

"I don't mind taking a look," the healer said, appearing in the doorway. "If it's still too strong then I can pull out, no harm done. But at this point, I doubt it's still strong enough to do much damage to me."

Gray just shrugged, long since past the point of being surprised when people randomly popped up out of nowhere. Lucy, on the other hand, seemed to be getting fed up with people always sneaking up behind them.

"Again?" she complained. "Where do you people keep coming from?"

Sara blinked at her blankly. "Sorry? I was actually waiting for Gray to come back inside so that I could give him his daily checkup. I saw you two lurking around outside, but I figured that I'd wait until you came back in."

"Oh." Lucy flushed and shuffled her feet awkwardly. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Sara smiled over at Gray. "Why don't we get you sitting down? The heat hasn't seemed to have done you any favors. And then I'll poke around a little and see if I can figure out what's going on."

Gray nodded and followed her out of the room, collapsing into a chair gratefully at the soonest possible moment. The throbbing in his head had receded to a dull ache and he wasn't feeling as dizzy anymore, but he still felt drained and weary from the heat.

He stayed quiet and watched Sara through half-lidded eyes as she reached out with her magic and tentatively probed at his, her brows furrowed slightly in concentration. She didn't immediately freak out or pull back, so maybe that was a good sign. His friends had all quieted as well, even Natsu, and it was like everyone was holding their breath as they waited for the verdict, Gray included.

After a couple minutes, the healer sat back and studied Gray contemplatively. He got the feeling that this was going to be a 'good news, bad news' kind of scenario. But she did look faintly pleased, so he decided that maybe it was okay to start breathing again.

"Well?" Erza demanded, leaning forward.

"There's still a little of the foreign magic, but it's basically only an echo at this point," Sara said finally, directing her attention towards Gray. "It wasn't strong enough to really do anything to me, and it's not doing much to you anymore either."

"Huh," Gray mused. "With how strong it started off, I'm kind of surprised that it burned itself out so quickly. I figured I'd have to put up with it for a lot longer."

"Well, your magic was already fighting it while you were unconscious," Lucy reasoned. "Maybe you had already mostly won the war by the time you woke up."

Gray shrugged. He wouldn't know. He'd been unconscious.

"Or maybe part of it is that continuing to use your magic was actually helpful for getting rid of the foreign stuff, even if the immediate symptoms seemed bad," Sara added.

Gray's eyes widened. "What? How did you know–?"

He broke off and winced, darting a nervous look at Erza. It took the requip mage a second to put the pieces together, but then she turned a ferocious scowl on Gray.

"What? I thought I told you not to keep using your magic!"

"Uh…" He deflated a little. "Sorry? It wasn't really that much though."

Erza opened her mouth to chew him out some more, but Sara stepped in smoothly.

"I didn't _know_ , per se," she said, smiling slightly. "But you and your friends are the type of mages with such a strong connection to their magic that it's really an extension of themselves. It's hard to imagine that you haven't at least played with it a little."

Gray smiled sheepishly. "Yeah…"

"Well, my theory is that because the amulet's magic basically latches on to yours, you're actually expelling some of it every time you use your own magic. Whatever foreign magic is piggybacking on your magic gets pushed out into the world with your magic and woven into your spells. The reason it had such negative side effects was probably because you didn't have enough magic left in your 'container' to continue combating what foreign magic was left inside you, and the ratio of foreign to native magic was too high. Now that you're stronger, you can expel some of the magic but keep enough of yours inside yourself to keep fighting whatever's left over."

Gray considered that for a moment and then shrugged. Theoretically it made sense, although it was still kind of weird to think about it in concrete terms.

Then he bit his lip and steeled himself. "And what's the bad news?"

Sara sighed, her smile fading. "It looks like there might be some damage to your magic container. It's…cracked, I guess."

Gray swallowed hard as an image of his splintering shield suddenly formed in his mind, the jagged cracks spiderwebbing its surface until it exploded into a hail of icy shards.

"What does that mean?" Lucy asked fearfully, when Gray didn't respond.

"It means…" Sara sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm not sure, exactly. It's not really _that_ much damage. If it was serious then we would already be seeing problems. Think of it more like a few hairline cracks—they're not very big, but we should keep an eye on them. It looks like your magic has actually… Well, it's like your magic sort of sealed them over. Some of the magic in your 'container' is basically coating the walls to seal the cracks, so they aren't doing any extra damage."

"So… What should I expect?" Gray asked quietly, frowning down at his hands.

He didn't like the thought of being broken, damaged, defective. And he wasn't sure that he liked the implications either. He didn't know what kind of terrible things might result from something like this, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to find out.

"I can't say for sure, but I can theorize," Sara said, grimacing faintly. "It's kind of like that amulet. It contained an immense amount of magic, but once it was cracked open its magic became unstable and somewhat uncontrollable. The outpouring of magic back in the city might have been triggered by the treasure hunter trying to unleash it, but part of it is just because it was so unstable after being damaged.

"The magic container is kind of like that, and my main worry is that if the cracks get bigger or your magic fails to seal them properly, it might make your magic unstable or even release a catastrophic surge of magic that you can't control. Don't freak out yet, though. It's really not so bad and right now it's under control. I'd just say to be careful not to use all of your magic up. You have a very deep reservoir of magic so that shouldn't be an issue in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, but I'll admit that I've heard of Fairy Tail and your tendency to overdo things.

"If you ever get to the point where you have to wring out every last drop of magic to stop a powerful enemy or something, you'll end up dragging out the magic that's sealing the cracks and you'll no longer have that barrier. I can't say what exactly would happen, but I doubt it would be good. It might not be as catastrophic because in that case you'd already be out of magic and couldn't unleash anything, but once your magic starts regenerating, it might start seeping out of the cracks or becoming otherwise uncontrollable, with potentially disastrous results."

Gray stared at her numbly, a sick feeling curling in his stomach. His friends looked equally horrified, and the healer winced.

"That's a definite worst case scenario," she assured them hurriedly. "It should really never get to that point. I'm just saying that you should be careful if you ever run into a situation where you have to use an extraordinary amount of magic." She glanced over at Erza and the others. "And you guys should probably keep an eye on him to make sure that he doesn't overdo it."

"Yeah," Erza mumbled, still looking faintly stunned. "We will."

Gray pursed his lips. It was true that he was a Fairy Tail mage and Fairy Tail mages had a tendency to overdo things and push themselves to their limits. But still, he didn't usually have to push himself to the point where he was entirely out of magic, not unless they were in a really dire situation. Did it worry him that he might not be able to perform adequately in those situations anymore without possibly hurting himself and others? Definitely. But in most situations, it shouldn't be a big deal. Hopefully.

He tried to ignore the fact that he had been in just such a situation a couple weeks ago, when he'd had to use every last drop of magic to maintain his shield so that everyone could get out of the city and escape the amulet's wrath. He tried to imagine how many more people might have died if he couldn't have lasted that long. No, he didn't really want to think about that right now.

Gray cleared his throat, eager to change the subject before either he or his friends really lost it. "So… Does this mean that we can go home now?"

His teammates all shot him looks with varying degrees of disbelief and worry, but he ignored them. Sara looked uncertain for a moment as well, before smiling faintly.

"Yes. The amulet's magic is basically gone except for a few lingering traces, so you should be fine to go now." Her smile widened a little. "It might do you some good to finish recovering somewhere where it isn't terribly hot all the time."

Despite himself, Gray's lips curved upwards. "Thank goodness. I can't wait to get back to normal temperatures."

The healer chuckled, but then sobered a little. "I think it's possible that those cracks are small enough that they might start slowly healing over. Your magic seems to be trying to fix them. Right now those are temporary stopgap measures, but it's possible that your magic will eventually find a more permanent solution. Maybe you can come back down sometime and let me take another look to see if things are fixing themselves."

Gray grinned crookedly. "Or maybe you can take a trip to Magnolia one day so that I don't have to brave the heat again."

"Maybe I will," she said with a laugh.

Gray would be lying if he said that the hope didn't help a little. The thought of things going back to normal was reassuring, even if he wasn't quite sure that would happen yet. And in any case, he'd rather not worry about something that might not become a problem. He really was sick of constantly worrying about his magic and health.

So instead, he turned to his companions and smiled. "Let's go home."

* * *

 **Note: Gray thinks you're all silly for reading this story ; ) Wow, it got all meta there for a second lol And y** **es, I was waiting to make that dumb joke about god slayers from almost the very beginning. I'm so sorry.**

 **Yeah, this is about the point where I kind of lost patience for this story, if you couldn't tell. But there are still two more chapters that I was more excited to write, so yay for those, I guess.**

 **emmahoshi: The disclaimer was necessary, based on some reviews I got last chapter. *nod nod* A better question is, how could Natsu _not_ be overexcited and end up burning half a village? This is Natsu we're talking about lol I think maybe Gray was mostly trying to talk me out of posting this story because he didn't want you all to see it ; ) Happy has the best timing ever lol We're told almost nothing about devil slayers in canon, so who knows? I'm not sure Mashima himself really knows... Fights are all well and good, but I tend to be more interested in the aftermath and in-between times :3 Well, it's not like I could just stop writing here lol Although I _was_ thinking about just having one more chapter... But with all the magic container stuff, it was hard to justify not having another chapter in Gray's POV. **


	15. Natsu is weirdly sentimental

**Note: This is the point where I might repeat last chapter's disclaimer since it seems like some of you didn't listen (you know who you are XD), but the truth is that I'm not going to be satisfied until I ruin someone's keyboard, so have at it. (...I'm joking.) ((Mostly.))**

 **So, at least three people so far have asked for a sequel... I actually finished writing this story months ago and have long since moved on to other things, including a new WIP, so there are no plans for a sequel. Sorry : ( I have said that I'll consider coming back to this at some point to maybe do something with the magic container issue, but it would be a short piece and I'm not making any promises. I'll think about it though : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

 _(In which the team goes home and Natsu is weirdly sentimental.)_

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright?" Happy asked.

Gray sighed and leaned back in his chair, letting his eyes drift shut. "Mhm. Chill out. You're getting as bad as the girls."

"Don't let them hear you say that," Natsu said, snorting.

All the same, he eyed his friend surreptitiously. Gray was certainly better off than he'd been for the past few weeks, but the trip back to town in the heat seemed to have sapped his energy and left him wilted and exhausted again. Whatever that amulet had done to him, it sure was taking him a long time to recover fully.

"I'm pretty sure they've figured out that I'm tired of their fussing by now," Gray grumbled. Then he sighed and added, "I really hope the train gets here soon."

Their train was late, and the team had been waiting for over an hour now. Erza had immediately found the closest building and shoved Gray inside. She and Lucy had taken turns fetching him ice water and asking about his health, until he had gotten fed up enough to snap that it wasn't like he was dying or anything. Which had led to an awkward silence since everyone still remembered that it was only a short time ago that he _had_ been dying. Gray had immediately picked up on the mood and become more subdued, submitting to the fussing without complaint.

Perhaps luckily for him, Erza had eventually gotten annoyed enough to storm off to figure out what had happened to their train, dragging Lucy after her. Natsu and Happy had been told in no uncertain terms to keep an eye on Gray and make sure the heat didn't start getting to be too much for him again. The boys had just rolled their eyes and kept their mouths shut.

Gray hadn't complained even though his damp hair was plastered to his forehead and he was getting more and more sluggish the longer they waited, so Natsu assumed he was fine. Still, even though the inside of the building was certainly cooler than the sweltering outside temperatures, it was pretty hot anyway. It didn't bother Natsu any, but the others were getting short-tempered and Gray appeared to be thoroughly miserable despite his best efforts to play it off. Everyone really just wanted the train to show up already so that they could go home.

"I'm sure it will be here any minute now," Happy said hopefully.

Gray didn't look nearly as optimistic. To take their minds off the truant train, Natsu launched into a long-winded story about anything and everything he could think of. It seemed to entertain Happy, at least, and even Gray was watching him with a faintly amused expression.

The dragon slayer had only been rambling for a few minutes when Gray interrupted him.

"Hey, flame brain, before I forget, I got something for you."

Natsu broke off and stared at him in confusion. "Huh?"

Gray dug through his pocket for a second and then pulled out two small bottles. He handed them to Natsu, who took them gingerly and eyed them like they might explode at any second. Accepting mysterious items from his rival could sometimes be hazardous to his health.

"What is this?"

"Oh, I asked Sara if she could make something to help with your motion sickness," Gray replied matter-of-factly, as if this was completely normal. "The one should help the nausea a little, and the other is a sleeping medicine for if the anti-nausea one doesn't work."

Natsu stared at the bottles. He stared at Gray. He stared at the bottles. He stared at Gray. This was not, in fact, completely normal. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why his friend had done this for him. Maybe it was a sort of symbolic gesture that he wasn't mad at Natsu for this whole desert thing, even though he should be. Or maybe…

Natsu frowned, thinking back to the beginning of the trip when they'd first reached the town and he'd woken up draped over Gray. There seemed to be a general consensus that Natsu would never continue doing that if he knew that Gray knew about it, and Gray had played dumb for a long time to stop that from happening. Maybe this was just his way of still trying to help now that he thought Natsu would be extra careful to prevent any unconscious snuggling from happening.

Or maybe Natsu was just overthinking things. But whatever the case, it was weird and it was making his head hurt just trying to figure it out.

"Uh, thanks…" He shook his head slowly and eyed his friend. "I feel like you used to be a lot less complicated."

Gray threw back his head and laughed. "Nah. You just used to be a lot more stupid."

Natsu rolled his eyes but smiled. "Well, at least you're feeling well enough to insult me."

"Yeah. Oh, and you might want to take the anti-nausea meds now. They're supposed to take something like half an hour to an hour to kick in." Gray was obviously fighting back a smile, but Natsu wasn't sure what was so funny.

"But we don't know when the train–"

"Gray! Natsu! Happy! Where are you?" Erza called from outside. "Didn't you hear the train? Come on. If you miss it, we're leaving you behind."

"Huh. That's a funny coincidence," Natsu said. Then he paused, noticing that Happy was trying not to laugh and Gray was full-on smirking now. "What?"

"Oh man," Happy wheezed past his laughter, "you really _didn't_ hear the train, did you? I thought you were just being stupid because you didn't want to get on it, but I guess you were distracted enough with your story that you didn't actually hear it."

Natsu frowned. He should've been able to hear the train pull up with his enhanced hearing. Man, he really must've been into his rambling to have missed it.

"So, like I was saying, you should probably take those meds now," Gray said, eyes sparkling with mirth.

Natsu narrowed his eyes suspiciously, getting the feeling that he was missing something here. "Wait a second, you heard the train too?"

"Mhm."

"Which is why you gave me the medicine now?"

"Yup."

"…And you chose to do it now instead of earlier because they take a while to kick in so now I'm going to have to suffer through at least part of the ride?"

A wide grin split Gray's face, which was the only answer Natsu needed.

"We should probably go before the train leaves without us and Erza rips our heads off," Gray said cheerfully, standing up and heading for the door.

Natsu muttered all sorts of uncomplimentary things under his breath as he followed his friend, but he wasn't really that annoyed. It was good to be on more familiar ground again, and Gray looked a little less miserable when he was laughing at Natsu's soon-to-be misery.

" _I_ think that you're _both_ still less complicated and more stupid," Happy said, although he was still snickering quietly. "Some things never change."

"Whatever," Natsu grumbled.

"Come _on_ ," Erza said, giving the lagging dragon slayer and Exceed a pointed glare as she turned and boarded the train. Lucy and Gray followed after her, and Natsu and Happy hurried to catch up.

"Oh, it's stifling," Lucy groaned, fanning herself with her hand as she worked her way down the aisle and dropped into a seat next to Erza. "I was hoping it would be cooler on the train."

"Awesome. No air conditioning," Happy complained. "And we're inside a giant metal box. What could possibly go wrong?"

"I'm sure it will cool off a little once we start moving," Gray said with a sigh. Turning his attention to the window beside him, he examined it thoroughly. "Maybe… Oh yeah, I think I can open this… Oh. Well, it will only open a little bit, but it's better than nothing."

Natsu reflected that he was taking this development rather well, despite his obvious distaste for the oven-like atmosphere. He wondered if Gray was aware that he was technically allowed to complain now that the job was over.

"Put some muscle into it," Happy whined. "I'm tired of being stuck in the heat."

"Sorry, Happy." Gray abandoned the window and leaned back in his seat. "It won't open any farther. It's not designed to."

"Well, why not?"

"I don't know. Maybe so that idiots don't stick their heads out and get them cut off."

"Or _maybe_ ," Erza said pointedly, "it's so that idiots don't take advantage of their friends' motion sickness to shove them out the window."

"That was _one_ time," Gray protested, grinning. "And I only got him halfway out anyway, so it doesn't count."

Natsu shuddered at the memory and quickly tried to distract himself from that rather traumatizing experience. The closest things at hand were those medicines—'medicines'?—that Gray had given him, so he focused on those.

"Are you sure these aren't poison?" he asked suspiciously.

"It's Russian roulette," Gray said seriously. "One is poison, the other isn't. Are you feeling lucky?"

Natsu eyed his friend warily. He was pretty sure Gray was joking. Like ninety-five percent sure. Well, okay. Eighty-five percent.

"What's that you've got?" Lucy asked, leaning forward to peer at the bottles in Natsu's hand.

"Possibly poison."

Happy rolled his eyes. "Gray had Sara make medicine to help with motion sickness since Natsu is going to be too awkward to snuggle with him on trains now."

Gray started coughing violently. " _Whoa_ , slow down there. Where do you come up with this weird bullshit?"

Happy just smirked and looked much too pleased with himself, and the girls exchanged amused looks. Natsu studied Gray out of the corner of his eye. Gray would never admit to it, but the dragon slayer had his suspicions. And anyway, it's not like Natsu would ever admit that the real reason he was planning not to use his friend as a pillow on this trip was because he didn't want to overheat Gray while he was still recovering. As for future trips… Well, it's not like Natsu was really responsible for anything he might do while not fully conscious.

"I'm still pretty sure it's poison."

"It's not poison," Gray grumbled. "But it's up to you whether you want to take it or not. It doesn't bother me any either way. After all, it's not like _I'm_ the one who's going to be pathetically motion sick the whole way."

"At least _I_ don't start fainting if I'm out in the heat for more than a few minutes," Natsu shot back. Then he wondered if it was really a good idea to throw that in his friend's face right now. Oops.

"Natsu!" Erza hissed, scowling.

Gray just studied Natsu with half-lidded eyes. After a moment, he smiled dryly. "Touché."

Natsu braced himself for the return shot, but Gray let it be. The train's whistle sounded loudly, and Natsu grimaced as he prepared himself for the coming ordeal.

"But seriously, if you're planning on trying it then you'd better take it now, before we start moving," Gray told him. "Like I said, it will take a while to kick in. And there's honestly no guarantee that it will work at all, but it's not like it can hurt to try it."

"Unless it's poison," Natsu mumbled, although he obediently drank the indicated medicine.

"Now I'm really wishing that I _did_ get you poison," Gray said, rolling his eyes. "It would have been a lot more amusing for me, anyway."

Natsu opened his mouth to protest, but the train lurched into motion and he promptly slumped over with a groan. He drifted in a nauseous daze for a while, but thankfully Gray had apparently been telling the truth about the potions not being poison.

He started gradually feeling better, until he was back at a mostly functional level instead of half-conscious and thirty seconds away from throwing up his breakfast. He was still kind of nauseous and miserable, but the discomfort had at least subsided enough to be bearable.

"Oh, it really wasn't poison?" Happy asked innocently, noticing that the dragon slayer had joined the land of the living again.

"I guess not," Natsu admitted. He automatically glanced at Gray, only to see that his friend was leaning against the window, eyes closed. "I thought you said he never sleeps on trains?"

"I said that he _almost_ never sleeps on trains," the Exceed huffed.

"He's still recovering from the amulet and heat stroke," Erza said. "Plus, being out in the heat for so long today really took a toll on him again. He could probably use some rest, so don't wake him up."

"Not that you'd have to," Lucy added with a sigh. "He's been really restless, in and out the whole time. I'm not sure he's really getting a whole lot of rest. He seems more miserable than anything else."

"Geez, how long was I out?" Natsu asked, shaking his head.

"A little over an hour."

"Ugh. Did I miss anything?"

"Not really," Happy said. "We've just been bored. And it's even more boring when Gray is quiet."

"What, we're not entertaining enough for you?" Lucy asked indignantly.

"…Not really."

Erza shrugged. "We're going to be stuck here for hours. There's not enough in the world to talk about to not make it boring at some point."

Wow. And Natsu had thought that he missed out on fun stuff while he was in his nausea-induced hazes. He wondered if maybe Gray's diabolical plan had been to cure him of his motion sickness just enough that he was still ill but not so ill that he couldn't experience the boredom of a disgustingly long train ride in all its glory. Worst of both worlds.

"At least it's a little cooler?" he offered, looking for a silver lining.

"Speak for yourself," Happy grumbled. "I wish the window would open more. It's still really hot in here."

"…Which is probably one of the reasons why he's having such trouble getting actual rest," Erza added, glancing over at Gray again.

Natsu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It wasn't that he was insensitive to his friend's plight, but he also thought that Gray was well enough to handle a little heat without the constant worrying of the girls. He understood that the girls were still concerned and overly protective because of how bad things had gotten, but he could also tell that all the fussing was driving Gray crazy. Gray wasn't used to being treated like an invalid and had hated it enough back when he actually _had_ been one.

"He can handle it," Natsu said confidently.

"Yeah, I know." Erza sighed and shook her head. "But that doesn't change the fact that it's harder on him than it has to be. In any case, I'm more worried about that whole business with his magic container."

There was a collective wince. Everyone had been trying to ignore that little issue since it had been brought up yesterday. It could either turn out to be something huge or something mostly insignificant, and they didn't know which yet. There were some scary possible implications that no one really wanted to consider, Gray least of all. The ice mage hadn't acknowledged it at all after the initial Q&A session.

"Me too," Lucy admitted. "I hope Sara's right and it turns out to be a minor thing. I don't think he would handle it well if it turned into a major problem."

"Especially if it's a permanent one," Happy added in a small voice.

Natsu grimaced. Getting injured or hurt was nothing new for Fairy Tail mages, but usually they didn't get anything much more permanent than a scar. They'd heal and be able to move on at the end of the day. Natsu didn't like this idea of permanency. That was kind of scary.

They were probably making a big deal out of nothing and everything would turn out fine, like the healer had said. But Natsu was also aware that _if_ it turned into a big and permanent problem, it could have a hugely negative impact on his friend. And Gray… Gray wouldn't take that well. Anything he perceived as a disability or that interfered with his magic would be devastating.

"I'm sure it will be fine," Gray said flatly, opening his eyes to fix his friends with an expressionless stare. "Sara said that it might start healing over time and that I probably won't have problems except in extreme circumstances. Quit worrying about everything."

Everyone startled at his words, not having realized that he was awake.

"Gray! Oh, uh, hi…" Lucy winced, her surprise morphing to chagrin at being caught talking about him.

"Hi," Gray replied dryly. He eyed the others for a moment longer, before shrugging and tilting his head to the side so that he could look out the window.

The rest of the team exchanged looks, stumped. Natsu doubted Gray really wanted to discuss this, and no one else wanted to talk about him while he was obviously awake and listening.

"Uh… So…" Happy paused and then perked up. "Have you decided what job you're going to pick next to get Natsu back?"

"Should I be breaking out my sweaters?" Lucy grumbled.

Natsu thought his rival would be glad of the change of topic, but Gray's frown deepened and he continued to stare out the window blankly. There was a long pause.

"I don't think I'll be going on any jobs for a while," he said finally.

They all stared at him.

"…What?" Natsu asked in disbelief.

Erza looked worried, but then relaxed fractionally. "Well, if you need a couple days to recover still, that's fine. You still seem pretty worn out."

Another pause.

"Physically, I should be fine soon," Gray said. "It's my magic that I'm more worried about. I shouldn't be taking jobs until it's back to normal."

"What? I thought your magic was fine now," Happy protested.

Gray shrugged, still not looking at them. "Most of the amulet's magic is gone, but it still did some damage to my magic while it was here. It's nothing too major. I can still mold adequately, it's just that the results, while not terrible, are not great either. I'll just take a week or two to do some extra training in order to strengthen it back up and undo some of the damage."

Natsu didn't like the sound of that. Everyone had been aware that Gray wasn't back to peak physical condition yet and no one had been able to forget that bit about his damaged magic container, but he hadn't said anything about his magic still being affected. Not that Natsu was surprised that he hadn't, but he would've thought Gray might have learned his lesson about not downplaying his problems anymore.

"If it's not really that bad, then we can just take some easier jobs and you can use them to help train your magic back up," Natsu suggested, wondering why Gray was so stupid as to not see this very obvious solution.

Gray narrowed his eyes at his reflection. "No. I'm not going to risk becoming a liability to the team again."

Erza winced. "You're not–"

"But I could be. The fact is that I don't know how extensive the damage might be. I'll just take a week or two to work with my magic and test my limits. Hopefully there's nothing majorly wrong and I'll be back in action quickly. If it's more serious or permanent… Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

No one responded immediately. Despite his reassurances to the others that they were worrying over nothing, Gray was obviously more concerned than he was letting on.

"I'm sure it's fine and things will go back to normal soon," Natsu said finally.

"Mhm."

"Well… I guess we could all use a mini vacation after this," Lucy added.

"Nah." Gray finally looked over to offer her a small smile. "Rent waits on no man. Or woman, as the case may be."

"But–"

"Believe it or not, I have friends in the guild other than you guys. It's not like I'll be all by myself or anything. No need to wait on me—I'm sure I can keep myself occupied."

"But–"

"But it will still be my turn to pick the job once I come back." Gray smirked over at Natsu. "You should take this time to prepare yourself."

Natsu eyed his friend for a moment, before deciding that Gray was pretty set on this already. "The suspense is killing me," he said dryly.

"Oh, it will be. By the end you'll be begging me to just pick a job already so that you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"You wish," Natsu grumbled, even though he was right.

Erza was not so easily distracted. "Gray, regardless of what happens, you'll _never_ be a liability. Not to us."

Gray's affected good humor faded. Natsu had no idea what was going through his head and his expression was incomprehensible, but a tired, heavy air hung over him. He turned back to the window and leaned against it, letting his eyes drift shut again.

"Yeah. No offense, but it's way too hot to hold a real conversation right now."

"I think there was some sort of sketchy-looking dining car somewhere," Lucy said. "Do you want me to see if I can go get you some ice or something?"

"Nah," Gray mumbled. "I'm just going to sleep anyway. Don't worry about it."

There was a moment of awkward silence, before the team determinedly started up a conversation that had nothing at all to do with Gray. They tried to stay fairly quiet so as not to disturb him, but he didn't offer any complaints. Natsu found that he rather hated trying to be quiet, seeing as he was not a terribly quiet person to start with. Luckily, as long as he didn't get overexcited and start talking really loudly, the girls didn't bother shushing him.

He also quickly discovered what they had meant about Gray being restless. It was difficult to tell when the ice mage was actually awake and when he wasn't. It seemed like he spent most of the time in a sort of semi-conscious state, not unlike Natsu's normal train dazes. Sometimes Natsu could tell that he was awake or asleep from his breathing, but it switched frequently and usually seemed to be somewhere in the middle. It honestly seemed pretty miserable.

Natsu also noticed that just because Gray was awake didn't mean that he wanted to talk. He'd often just sit still and feign sleep until he got dragged back down into that odd semi-consciousness again. But every once in a while he'd randomly add in a comment or joke to the conversation, inevitably taking everyone by surprise since they could never tell when he was really awake. And one time he'd spoken up to tell Natsu to quit yelling in his ear because it was only making his headache worse. Natsu thought that was kind of unfair since he hadn't been _yelling_ , per se—it wasn't his fault that he had a naturally loud voice—but that indignation had been ignored in favor of asking just how long Gray had had a headache and why he hadn't said anything. Not that it was a real mystery, Natsu supposed. Gray had said that he sometimes got headaches from the heat—and this train was definitely hot, although it started cooling down to more normal temperatures as they got closer to their destination—and of course he wouldn't have said anything if he'd anticipated them fussing over him. But still.

In any case, this was clearly not a very fun train ride for Gray. It wasn't super fun for Natsu either. For one, the medicine eventually started wearing off. He still wasn't as sick as he would normally be, but he gradually started feeling rather queasy again. And secondly, he was _bored_. Happy and the girls were great and all, but even they couldn't keep him entertained for hours while stuck on an uncomfortable train. And he couldn't even pass the time making fun of Gray.

There _was_ a silver lining though. By the time Natsu could look out the window and spot Magnolia in the distance, he could tell that Gray was actually asleep. Or as close to asleep as he was getting on here, anyway.

"Hey, Happy, you want to go see if you can find that ice now?"

The Exceed frowned suspiciously. "Why?"

"Gray's going to have to get up soon, and I'm sure he'd appreciate something to help him cool down," Natsu said reasonably. "Get a lot. Like a whole bucket."

He'd go himself, but he was worried that moving around too much would agitate his nausea.

"Why?" Happy demanded. If he'd looked almost assuaged by the first part of Natsu's explanation, the second half had immediately aroused his suspicions again.

"So he can take some with him," Natsu said, trying to look as angelically innocent as possible. "We already had to pay to get the tickets. Might as well get our money's worth."

Happy just sighed and gave in, and Natsu deflected the girls' questions while he waited for the feline to return. When Happy reappeared a few minutes later, struggling with a heavy bucket of ice, Natsu immediately grabbed it and smirked.

"I guess we should probably wake him up," Erza said, oblivious, as she noted that they were getting close to the station.

"I got it!" Natsu said happily. "Rise and shine, ice princess!"

He dumped the bucket of ice over Gray, who yelped and reflexively jerked back, banging his head into the window.

"Natsu!" the girls shouted in tandem, both equally appalled.

"Revenge for waking me up with all those ice cubes back in the desert," Natsu explained, feeling terribly pleased with himself.

"Ow," Gray grumbled, rubbing his head. Then he paused and blinked down at the ice. "Actually, this feels really good."

He sighed contentedly, and Natsu's mouth dropped open in indignation.

"It's not supposed to feel _good_ ," he protested. "It's supposed to be giving you a taste of your own medicine."

Gray threw him a disbelieving look. "You thought that dumping _ice_ on _me_ was a good idea for a punishment?"

Come to think of it, maybe this hadn't been Natsu's brightest idea. But maybe he could let go of the whole punishment thing and consider it a good idea anyway, because Gray did seem to be appreciating the coldness after being stuck in the heat for so long. And he appeared to be in a better mood than earlier, so there was no point trying to ruin that.

So Natsu submitted to Erza's lecture more good-naturedly than he normally would. When the train stopped in the station, he followed her off meekly and stayed mostly quiet, only offering the occasional protest. Of course, as he'd suspected, the lecture didn't last long. Erza and the others were quickly distracted simply by virtue of finally being home. It felt really good to be back in Magnolia again after all that time in the desert.

"Oh, I'm so ready to go say hi to everyone at the guild!" Lucy said. "It feels like it's been weeks since we've seen them."

"It _has_ been weeks," Happy muttered. "They're probably wondering what happened to us by now. They would have expected us back a long time ago."

Erza winced. "We probably should have tried sending a message back… Oh well, we're here now."

They started towards the guild, not even noticing that Gray wasn't following until he cleared his throat awkwardly. Natsu looked back and raised an eyebrow.

Gray frowned at the ground. "I think I'm actually going to just head to my apartment. That train ride really wore me out. I'll stop by the guild tomorrow, but you can tell everyone I said hi."

Well, he _was_ still looking pretty bad despite the ice, and the train certainly hadn't done him any favors. Natsu shrugged. If Gray would rather take a break for the rest of the day and then come back to the guild tomorrow, more power to him.

"Alright," Erza said reluctantly. She frowned and shifted uncomfortably. "But…"

Gray evidently picked up on what she wasn't saying, because he huffed in exasperation and rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure I can make it to my apartment just fine without a babysitter."

"Well yeah, but…"

"Natsu and I will go with him!" Happy volunteered.

Natsu whipped around to stare at him in disbelief. " _What?_ No we won't."

"Sure we will. I mean, you dragged him into the desert, so it's only fair that you make sure he's okay now."

"It's not my fault–"

"No, but you still feel bad about it and you'll feel better if you think you're doing something to help make up for it."

Natsu gaped at his furry friend and then flushed. "Where do you come up with this stuff? You've been making up all sorts of weird motives for me and Gray lately."

Happy just gave him a knowing look, daring him to deny it. Natsu crossed his arms and looked away with a huff.

"Actually, I think Happy is smarter than both you guys," Lucy said, the smile evident in her voice.

"I resent that," Gray grumbled. "I mean, I know he's smarter than Natsu, but…"

"Hey!"

Gray just snickered at Natsu's protest. "Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow." He started walking away, only to pause and frown over at the dragon slayer and Exceed when they followed him. "Seriously, I can handle myself."

"If it was just the heat stroke then we wouldn't be as worried," Erza said quietly. "But if you're that worried about your magic and what may or may not happen with your magic container… It wouldn't hurt to have someone there just in case."

"Nothing is going to happen," Gray said, looking away.

"Of course it's not," Natsu said cheerfully. "But I have every intention of raiding your fridge, so let's get going."

Gray's annoyance melted into grudging amusement. "You and your stomach. Not sure how much food I've really got left at this point. Pretty sure a lot of it is rotten or stale by now—I didn't expect to be gone for weeks." He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "You'd be better off getting a meal at the guild."

Natsu shrugged. "I'm not picky."

Everyone stared at him with almost identical expressions of horror, and he wondered what he'd said.

"You… You'll eat rotten food?" Lucy stammered, a sickened expression spreading across her face.

"What?" Natsu threw her a look of disbelief. "Of course not. Well, not usually, anyway. It depends _how_ rotten. But I just meant that I'm not picky about eating whatever he's got left."

"I'm not sure if I should be relieved, or disgusted that you'll apparently eat rotten food under certain conditions," Lucy said, shaking her head.

"Fine, fine," Gray grumbled, turning away to start down the street again. "I don't have the energy to fight you. But after you eat me out of house and home, you can leave."

Natsu would take that. Waving goodbye to the girls, he and Happy trotted alongside Gray, cheerfully pestering him the whole way to his apartment. Gray still looked tired and pale, but he cracked a few jokes and participated in the banter. It was good to see more of his normal personality shining through again after his mood on the train earlier.

The good humor lasted right up until Gray let them into his apartment.

"Eat what you want and get out," he said, making his way through the apartment without giving them a second glance.

"And what are you going to do?" Happy asked.

"Go to sleep."

"But you slept the whole time on the train!"

"Not exactly," Gray said with a grimace. "I'm exhausted and my head is killing me. So seriously, don't be too loud and leave when you're done ransacking the kitchen."

Without waiting for a response, he slipped into his bedroom and shut the door behind him. Natsu and Happy stared at the door silently for a moment.

"Is he really going to start sleeping all the time again?" Happy asked. "I thought he was getting better."

Natsu shrugged and headed for the kitchen. "He is. But even while he was asleep on the train he wasn't really getting any rest, and I doubt the heat helped any. I'm sure he'll be back to normal tomorrow, after he's gotten some rest."

He dug through the fridge and pantry, a scowl spreading across his face. Honestly, why didn't Gray keep more food lying around? It seemed like every time Natsu broke in to steal his food, there was less and less to be found. He wondered if there was a connection there.

"So… What are you going to make?" Happy asked, hovering in the air as he watched Natsu.

"Nothing. I don't have the energy to make anything, and I don't cook anyway. I'm just going to grab something prepackaged."

"But what about Gray?"

"What about him?"

"Shouldn't we make something for him too?"

Natsu paused his rampage to stare at the Exceed blankly. "He's sleeping."

"Yeah, but it's only like six o'clock," Happy explained. "He'll probably wake up in a couple hours and stay up for a while before going back to bed for the night. And he still isn't eating enough. Since we're already here, we might as well make sure he eats something."

There was a long pause as Natsu continued to stare at the feline. Then he shrugged and turned away, grabbing a hunk of stale bread to gnaw on.

"Nah."

"Na- _tsu_."

"If you care so much, why don't _you_ make something?"

"But I can't cook!"

Natsu shrugged again and headed out into the living area, still trying to tear chunks off the rock-hard bread. "Neither can I."

Ignoring Happy's complaints and mumbled grievances about there being no fish in the fridge, Natsu wandered through the apartment, looking for something to relieve his boredom. There wasn't much to do while Gray was asleep and Happy was suddenly obsessed with culinary pursuits.

Maybe it would be fun to mess this place up a little. Gray always kept his stuff way too neat and organized, and it would be satisfying to ruin it. Natsu briefly wondered if that was a bad idea given that he had, inadvertently, almost gotten his friend killed on their last job. Perhaps it would be better for him to be nice instead.

Then he shrugged off that silly notion. Nice. Ha. It was _always_ the perfect time to annoy Gray.

He might have done it too, except that as he was looking around the room, a random snippet of memory hit him out of nowhere. For no discernable reason, he was suddenly reminded of that night they had spent in the village prior to venturing out to search for the lost city, when he had overheard Gray and Happy talking. Gray had mentioned that he knew the truth about his necklace—and it was a little embarrassing that he'd known all along and Natsu had never even suspected it—and that he wore the replica but kept the original somewhere in his apartment.

The impulse to destroy stuff faded a little, and Natsu looked around with a thoughtful frown. Maybe he could kill some time looking for that necklace, to see if Gray had been telling the truth. Upon first hearing what the ice mage had done with the two necklaces, Natsu had immediately thought that it was weirdly sentimental. Like, really weird. And maybe searching for it now would also be weirdly sentimental, something that Natsu was usually not. But… Screw it. Weirdly sentimental it was.

He began digging through drawers, pushing aside the nagging feeling that maybe it wasn't a great idea to go rummaging through his friend's personal effects. He figured that this wasn't really all that different from digging through the fridge, and Gray clearly didn't mind that as much. It was practically the same thing.

Not that it seemed to matter much, because after several minutes of searching, Natsu came up emptyhanded. He retreated to the middle of the room and frowned, his eyes scanning the furniture for anything he might have missed. Nothing jumped out at him until his eye caught on the door to the other room. He decided that it was very possible that the object he was looking for was actually in Gray's bedroom. Which presented a problem, for obvious reasons.

He crept over to the door and pressed his ear against it, ignoring Happy's quiet mumblings as he banged around in the kitchen in favor of listening for Gray's breathing. It sounded deep and even, signaling that he was asleep. Natsu considered his options. He could just give it up now—it's not like this was really something important, just something he was using to kill time. But he was also curious.

Still, actually tiptoeing around Gray as he slept was kind of risky. It's not like Natsu wanted to wake him up, and it would be kind of weird creeping around while he was sleeping. On the other hand, he had basically just spent a week watching Gray sleep, so it didn't seem as weird as it might have otherwise.

Throwing caution to the wind, he pushed the door open quietly and crept inside. He took a moment to ascertain that Gray really was asleep and hadn't been woken by the door, but the ice mage stayed motionless on the bed, his chest rising and falling steadily. All the same, Natsu was going to try to be quick about this. But also quiet, which was the bigger challenge. He wasn't very good at being quiet.

He spent a few minutes searching through drawers and closets, but still found nothing. At this point, this entire thing was getting pretty annoying. Maybe it would be better to just convince Happy to give up on his culinary scheme so that they could leave and do something fun. He nodded to himself. That was a good plan.

"It's in the top drawer of the nightstand," Gray said suddenly.

Natsu jumped in surprise and whipped around. Apparently he'd been distracted enough by his search to not notice the change in his friend's breathing. Gray remained sprawled over the bed, but had propped himself up on one arm and was watching him expressionlessly.

"Uh…" Natsu wasn't sure what he could say that would make him not seem super creepy right now. Since there really wasn't anything that would dig him out of this hole, he decided to skip right over that part and go for changing the subject. "What's in the drawer?"

Gray eyed him for a moment longer before nodding meaningfully at the nightstand next to the bed, his expression still unreadable. Natsu followed his gaze, wondering how he had overlooked such an obvious place in his search. He had originally meant to save it for last since it was right next to Gray, but then he'd forgotten about it.

In any case, it looked like he was going to be playing by Gray's rules now that he had been caught. He walked over to open the top drawer, and his eyes widened as he spotted the coiled chain and gleam of a silver pendant.

"How did you know that's what I was looking for?" he asked, stunned.

Gray shrugged and smothered a yawn behind his hand. "What else would you be looking for in my room while I'm trying to sleep?"

Natsu picked up the necklace and studied it with a faint frown. Gray's reasoning seemed sound, but there was something not quite right about it. He wasn't sure what was nagging at him, but there was definitely something off.

A slight sound from the doorway made him look over. Happy, apparently having heard noise coming from the room, was peering inside to see what was happening. He opened his mouth, but it was at that moment that Natsu figured out what was wrong.

"Just how much did you tell him?" he accused the Exceed.

"About what?" Happy asked, a puzzled look spreading across his face.

Natsu looked back and forth between his two friends suspiciously. "He didn't tell me about the necklace—he told _you_. I just overheard it from the other room, and I mentioned it to you later. So how did he know that I knew about it?"

There was a long pause, and then Happy burst out laughing.

"I didn't tell him anything," the feline said between peals of laughter.

"Well then, how did he–?"

"I didn't have to. He already knew it without me saying anything."

"But how–?"

"Oh, come on, flame brain," Gray drawled, rolling his eyes. "You really think I'd forget about your hearing? Please. I'm not as stupid as you think I am—I know better than to hold secret conversations when you're around."

Natsu frowned. "But if it wasn't secret…"

Things were starting to click into place now. Of course Gray wouldn't have forgotten about Natsu's enhanced hearing. Usually he knew to be careful about what he said when the dragon slayer was in hearing range. So the fact that he had said all that stuff while knowing that Natsu was in the next room… Suddenly Happy's smugness the morning after was starting to make a lot more sense.

"Oh."

"Oh indeed." Gray studied Natsu, his dark eyes inscrutable. The dragon slayer shifted under the weight of his gaze. "You can keep it, if you want."

Natsu blinked at him uncomprehendingly. "I can… What?"

"Keep it," he repeated, rolling his eyes again. "The necklace."

"But–"

"I have another one." Gray tugged at the chain around his neck meaningfully.

"But–"

"Just don't lose it," he interrupted, the corners of his lips quirking downwards slightly. "It's still important to me."

Natsu was totally lost. He briefly entertained the idea that he had gone insane without realizing it, or maybe that Gray had been taken over by aliens or something. He just couldn't fathom that Gray was apparently trying to give away his most precious possession, and to Natsu of all people.

"If it's important to you, then shouldn't you keep it?" he asked slowly.

Gray shrugged again. "You gave me this one and it's important to me too. That one is just sitting in a drawer, so I'm giving it to you." He rolled over so that he wasn't facing them anymore. "I'm sure you've finished destroying my kitchen by now, so you're more than welcome to get out of here already."

Natsu stayed motionless for a long moment, trying to bore a hole into Gray's back with his gaze, but his friend was clearly done talking. Not knowing what else to do, he slowly backed out of the room, still frowning at Gray.

"Um, thank you?"

"Mhm. Just go already. I'm already going to be stuck putting up with you at the guild tomorrow."

Natsu hesitated a few seconds longer, but then stepped outside and closed the door. Turning to Happy, he realized that the Exceed looked just as stunned.

"What the hell just happened?" Natsu wondered aloud.

Happy shook his head slowly. "Wow."

Wow indeed.

"I don't get it," he muttered, peering down at the necklace coiled in his palm.

"Hmm…" Happy frowned thoughtfully as he puzzled through the mystery. "Well, he told me—told _us_ , really, since he knew you were listening—that he actually wears the replica now, not the original."

"Which makes it even weirder," Natsu interrupted. "I mean, it's obvious that it means a lot to him. We could always see that, even though he's never really told us exactly where it came from. And I know he said a whole bunch of sentimental stuff about why he wears the knockoff, but the original _has_ to be more important."

"Yeah… You know, in order to keep the replica, he must have some reason for it to be as important as the original. Otherwise he would have just thrown it out and kept the real one."

"I'm telling you," Natsu grumbled, "he used to be less complicated."

Happy snorted. "This happened a couple years ago, you know. If he suddenly seems more complicated now, it's only because you're starting to see that things aren't as simple as you assumed."

"Whatever."

They both stared at the necklace in silence for a couple minutes.

"You know," Happy said finally, "if he had kept the original and given you the fake one, he would have just been giving you back something that you gave him in the first place. Part of the reason he said he wore the replica was because it meant a lot to him that we went through so much effort searching for his necklace and then having a duplicate made. It wasn't important for what it was—because let's be honest, it's really just a fake—but for who gave it to him and why. We gave him something precious, and now he's giving us back something that's precious to him.

"You should know exactly how important that is to him, so you know exactly how amazing it is that he was willing to give it to you. He must care about you a lot to give you something so precious to him, and that should make the gesture precious to you."

Natsu stared at the necklace some more. "Oh."

It made sense, he supposed, although it was more of that weird sentimental stuff. But weird or not, it didn't stop his throat from closing up. Because _yes_ , he could feel the weight of what had just happened. He couldn't even imagine giving away something as precious as Igneel's scarf, and he knew that this necklace meant as much to Gray as the scarf meant to him. Gray had handled everything so casually, but Natsu could feel all the unspoken trust and love and friendship sitting in the palm of his hand.

It was maybe even more humbling and awe-inspiring that this just so happened to have occurred right after Natsu had almost gotten Gray killed and perhaps permanently injured. Then again, maybe the timing wasn't a coincidence.

"Don't lose that," Happy said solemnly, his voice quiet.

Natsu nodded silently. He didn't know what he would do with this yet, but he would certainly be careful not to lose it. For now, he just slipped it into his pocket.

He and Happy stared at each other for a long moment, still overwhelmed. Then Natsu cleared his throat, ready to escape the sentimental atmosphere even though his heart still ached with emotion.

"I know he told us to leave," he said cheerfully, "but this place is way too neat and I've been dying to mess it up. I think we can take a few minutes to trash everything before we go."

Happy facepalmed. "Na- _tsu_ …"

Natsu just grinned and got to work.

* * *

 **Note: What, you really thought I just made up the necklace thing for a good story way back in the beginning? You guys should know better by now—I always set things up way too far in advance lol**

 **emmahoshi: Oh yeah, I'm like Santa Claus: I see you when you're sleeping, I know when you're awake, I know when you've been eating...XD "WIP" isn't only an internet term—it's actually pretty common for a lot of things—but I get confused by all the internet abbreviations too ("shacking my head" XD). Blunt Happy is scary Happy, ha ha. I don't want someone that blunt either, but sometimes I like to think of him messing with the boys :3 Yup, one day you're going to trip up and write "neckless" again, and then I'm going to laugh :3 Lol yeah, Natsu can be a little brat.**


	16. Gray is an insecure little fool

**Note: Last chapter : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

 _(In which Gray is an insecure little fool.)_

* * *

When Gray woke up to see his apartment in shambles, his first impulse was to hunt Natsu down and strangle him. Gray liked things neat, which might seem weird for a teenage boy but had always worked for him. Every single thing in his apartment had its own proper place, and currently none of them were in it.

He had woken later that night with the intention of getting something to eat and maybe doing something more interesting than sleeping, but his plans were immediately derailed when he walked into the living room and saw everything in disarray. Instead, he spent the next few hours hunting down all his missing belongings and organizing them again.

By the time he finished, Gray was too worn out to murder his friend. He no longer cared about food and didn't even have the energy to go back to bed, so he just collapsed on the sofa and slept like the dead for a few more hours.

He couldn't sleep for too long though, because he had an errand to run and wanted to hurry up and get it over with. That was also the reason why Natsu wasn't currently being asphyxiated.

But Gray was well aware that he was about to be in for a world of aggravation, so he did his best to push aside any lingering annoyance with the dragon slayer. After searching for anything edible left in his apartment, he set off with grim determination, like a soldier going to war.

When he reached his destination and knocked on the door, he was not disappointed in how difficult this encounter would be.

"If you're not dying, go away!" Porlyusica called from inside, her voice muffled by the wood separating them.

Gray glowered at the closed door, but then forced himself to take a deep breath and relax. "Look, can I just talk to you real quick? It'll only take a couple minutes and then I'll be out of your hair."

"You don't sound like you're dying."

The door stayed firmly shut. Gray sighed.

"I'm not," he admitted. "Not anymore, anyway. But I ran into some trouble and there might be permanent consequences. I can't think of anyone who would know more about this stuff than you, so here I am."

"Do you really think that flattery is going to get you anywhere?" Porlyusica grumbled, banging something around inside. "Because it's not."

"Flattery?" Gray repeated indignantly, scowling at the door. "I'm not _flattering_ you. That's just the truth. If you know someone who knows more about magic containers than you, then you're welcome to tell me and I'll go to them instead. Flattery." He snorted derisively. "You're a crotchety old woman. I'm not going to coddle you."

Then he winced, afraid that he'd blown his chance. Damn, he should've kept better control over his mouth.

The door suddenly opened, revealing the crotchety old woman in question. For a second Gray thought he spotted a flicker of something like amusement or respect in her eyes, but he was probably imagining it.

"Well, come on then," Porlyusica said impatiently. "I don't have all day." Gray hesitated, confused by the sudden change of heart, and the healer's mouth contorted into a scowl as she added, "Hurry up before I change my mind."

Gray ducked inside and Porlyusica flapped her hands irritably, herding him into the other room and shoving him down onto the couch none too gently. He perched there uncomfortably and watched her with wary eyes as she sat down across from him.

"Well, what is it?" she asked. "Give me the short version. The really short version."

Short version. He could do that.

"I got dragged into a desert for a job and ended up with really severe heat stroke and–"

"You don't have heat stroke," Porlyusica interrupted.

Gray tried not to roll his eyes and failed miserably. "Not anymore, I don't. But it was really bad a couple weeks ago."

"If you were that worried about permanent damage to your internal organs then you should have come by earlier. And I don't see what this has to do with magic containers."

"You know, the short version would be a lot shorter if you didn't keep interrupting me," Gray grumbled.

The very corners of Porlyusica's lips twitched upwards for the briefest of seconds before her mouth flattened into a grim line again. "Get on with it."

"For one, the permanent damage I was talking about is related to my magic container, not to the heat stroke."

"Heat stroke shouldn't affect your magic container at all."

Gray shot her a look. "You're interrupting me again."

"You keep making vague comments. Hurry it up."

"They wouldn't be so vague if you'd let me finish," he muttered mutinously, before letting it go. "There was some kind of magic amulet that exploded and I got caught up in the blast. I was already weak from the heat stroke so it really took a toll on me and I passed out afterwards. I guess I was unconscious for almost a week."

"That long? I wouldn't imagine heat stroke would keep you out for that long unless there were severe complications. I assume this amulet has something to do with it, then? What other symptoms did you have?"

Gray sighed and listed his symptoms with clinical detachment instead of pointing out that she'd derailed the conversation again. "All the normal heat stroke stuff—lightheadedness, fainting, dehydration, headaches, nausea, hallucinations, impaired mental functioning. But that wasn't the main issue after the amulet. The seizures were worse, I think, and the amulet screwed up my magic something terrible."

Porlyusica eyed him up and down. "You're not here about the heat stroke at all, are you?"

"No. That was just context for why things got so bad."

"Tell me about the seizures and magic then."

"Apparently I had a number of seizures while unconscious and stopped breathing twice. When I woke up, it felt like there was fire eating me from the inside out, and when I tried using my magic I started going into convulsions again.

"The healer over there said that the amulet's magic somehow latched on to my magic, followed it back to my magic container, and started trying to destroy it from the inside out. It's mostly out of my system now, but apparently my magic container is cracked. She also said that it might heal itself over time, but I'm not sure I believe that."

"Impossible," Porlyusica said dismissively. "I don't see how a foreign magic could possibly infiltrate your magic container."

"The only way I could keep the shield up to contain the amulet was to channel a constant stream of magic into it. She said something about my magic acting as a 'string' and the amulet's magic was somehow using it as a guide to get to my magic container and–"

"I see," the healer interrupted, tapping her fingers against her leg absently. "Hm. I've never seen a magic like that, but in theory it might be possible. So you're concerned about this damage to your magic and magic container?"

"Yeah. Well, my magic is getting better. I'm more worried about this magic container business. I haven't heard much about injuries to magic containers, but they sound dangerous."

Porlyusica stared at him silently for a moment, her expression unreadable, before standing and motioning him up as well. "Well, let me take a look at you."

Gray honestly had no idea what she was doing, but she spent the next several minutes poking and prodding and asking him to do simple magic tasks and staring at him intently. It was all rather disconcerting, but he stayed quiet and followed her instructions.

"You didn't say anything about ribs," she grumbled when Gray grunted in pain and flinched back as she poked at his chest.

"Didn't think it was relevant. I got a few injuries like that, but they're healing."

"You should have Wendy look at those ribs. She can double-check for any internal damage from the heat stroke too."

Gray nodded. "Sure. But I'm more interested in the magic container."

Porlyusica sighed heavily and leaned back. "The container is an issue. There are few things that can actually damage the magic container, so there aren't many cases of this happening. The results are almost always catastrophic though, usually involving uncontrolled outpourings of magic that can decimate entire cities. That obviously hasn't happened with you. The crack seems to be very small, and your magic has somehow sealed it over. Still, I'm surprised that there wasn't an uncontrollable magical phenomenon when it was first damaged."

"I was basically out of magic by that point because I put everything I had into the shield. The other healer thought that might be why I survived at all."

"Now who's interrupting?" Porlyusica grumbled without any real heat. "That could be it. If you were out of magic then there wouldn't have been any kind of explosion, and if your magic was regenerating at a slow rate then it might have had the opportunity to seal over the crack." She sighed. "The thing is, I've never heard of a magic container fixing itself. That kind of damage is probably permanent."

She eyed Gray like she expected him to burst into tears at the pronouncement, but he just sighed tiredly. That was what he had been expecting. And afraid of.

"Right," he said flatly. "What should I expect?"

"Not much, for the most part. Luckily, the damage is minimal and your magic is surprisingly adept at creating a flexible barrier. It's possible that its temporary measures will continue to evolve over time until it comes up with a slightly more permanent solution, but the container itself is unlikely to ever heal.

"I'd advise you to be careful not to use so much magic that the seal is weakened or removed. Without that, you would probably lose control of your magic entirely. But I'd think you'd be able to feel it if the crack started growing or the seal weakened too much. Keep an eye on it, and come see me if anything changes."

That sucked. Although, come to think of it, it had felt like something inside himself had snapped when the amulet's magic had broken through his shield. If Gray started feeling anything like that again then he might be in trouble, but maybe he wouldn't have to constantly worry about losing control otherwise.

"Well, it could be worse," he said finally, sighing.

"Indeed. You're very lucky to be alive."

"I know." Then he grinned at her crookedly. "I guess that helps put it into perspective, huh?"

The corners of Porlyusica's eyes crinkled for a split second, before she caught herself and scowled instead. "Right. Are we done now? I have better things to do than look after silly human brats."

"Brats?" Gray's grin widened. "Oh dear, it looks like Jii-chan is rubbing off on you. I'm flattered that you think of us as your brats too."

The healer snorted, amusement flashing over her face before her expression contorted into a glower and she started swatting at Gray. The ice mage retreated before the onslaught, laughing the whole way to the door.

"And stay out," Porlyusica snapped, shoving him outside. She made to shut the door, but hesitated. "If you feel anything shifting or have any reason to believe that the problem is worsening, come back and I'll take a look at it."

Gray's eyes widened in mock innocence. "Which is it? Stay out or come back?"

She glared at him. "You're welcome to stay away. Stupid human."

He just laughed as she slammed the door, but then sobered slightly. He studied the closed door for a moment and cleared his throat.

"Thank you," he said to the wood.

There was a long pause.

"Get out of here. I don't want to see you back here again unless there's a real problem."

He smirked a little, deciding that it was a good thing that she'd left the invitation open instead of just telling him to stay away for good. Satisfied that he'd gotten all he could from here, he started for the guild.

"Gray!" Lucy exclaimed as soon as he walked into the building. "Are you feeling better?"

"Sure," he said dryly. "I was just tired, nothing worse. Everything is fine."

"Is it?" Natsu asked, a sly smirk spreading across his face. "Everything? You sure you're not, like, annoyed or anything?"

Of course Gray was annoyed. This would be the perfect time to bash Natsu's head in for trashing his entire apartment. Gray almost did, but changed his mind at the last second as a scene from the train station flashed through his mind, back when they were just setting out for the desert.

"Everything is great," he said cheerfully. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it? What's there to be annoyed about?"

Natsu blinked at him in confusion. "Wait, you aren't mad?"

Gray furrowed his brow as if in thought and frowned a little. "Why would I be?" he asked, injecting just the right note of puzzled bewilderment into his voice.

Natsu's mouth dropped open and he exchanged a look with Happy, who looked no less shocked.

"I trashed your whole apartment and you aren't even annoyed?" he asked in disbelief. "What the hell? You couldn't have missed it!"

"Oh?" Gray asked politely. "If you say so. Although if I were you, I'd probably not admit to that here."

Natsu's eyes widened and he darted a nervous look over at Erza, who scowled back at him.

"Did you make a mess in his apartment?" she demanded, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Uh… No?"

Erza looked over at Gray and arched a questioning eyebrow, but he just shrugged and shook his head slightly, trying to hide a smile. He'd get Natsu back alright, but it would be when the dragon slayer was least expecting it. Erza nodded and let it go, much to Natsu's relief.

She opened her mouth, but was interrupted as Cana and Mira rushed over to accost Gray.

"Are you really alright?" Mira asked in concern, her gaze roaming over his body like she was searching for injuries. He shuffled back a half-step, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "You poor thing, I'm so sorry about all that."

"About all–?"

"Want a drink?" Cana asked, shoving a tankard in his face. "Nothing like near-death experiences to make you want to drink to being alive. Plus I already drank Macao and Wakaba under the table, and I need a new drinking buddy."

"Uh…" Taken aback, Gray blinked at the girls for a second and then glanced around the hall to see that everyone else was watching him as well. He scowled at Erza. "What the hell have you been telling them?"

She shrugged unrepentantly. "We were gone for nearly three weeks longer than expected and they wanted to know why."

Gray blew out a harsh breath, before sighing and turning back to Cana and Mira. "Whatever they've been telling you, don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Mira asked anxiously. "Because we could–"

"Aw, leave him alone," Cana slurred, slugging Mira in the arm and grinning brightly. One good thing about Cana was that she wasn't a worrier, and if Gray said he was fine then she wouldn't waste her time worrying any more. If only everyone else could be so easily assuaged. "Although the offer still stands. I bet I could beat you at a drinking contest!"

"I know you could," Gray said, smiling at her fondly. "Maybe another time."

"You're no fun," the drunken mage grumbled. Then her eye caught on Mira. "Mira! You'll have a drink with me, won't you?"

"Huh? Wait, I–"

Cana grabbed the other woman's arm and dragged her off back to the bar, ignoring her protests. Gray watched them go, unable to suppress a smile. It was good to be back at the guild again.

Wendy approached next, her usual shyness eclipsed by determination. "Erza-san said that you had injuries and asked me to heal them."

"That would be great, thanks."

When she reached towards him, though, another thought struck him and he gently but firmly grasped her wrist. She blinked at him in confusion, and he did his best to give her a lazy smile.

"There shouldn't be a problem, but if you feel anything odd, anything that feels like it might be trying to interfere with your magic, stop immediately, alright?"

Wendy frowned. "Erza-san mentioned what the amulet did, but I thought that the effects had worn off?"

"Yeah," Natsu said, scowling at Gray. "You said that you couldn't feel it anymore."

Gray waved off their concerns and let go of Wendy. "Yes, yes, there shouldn't be anything more than trace amounts left. But it's better to be safe than sorry. I'd rather not see someone else get incapacitated by this stuff."

"On the topic of that magic," Lucy said suddenly, turning to Wendy, "do you think you could maybe try healing his magic container while you're at it?"

Wendy shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure I can do that. It might be beyond my skills."

"Don't worry about it," Gray told her, smiling wanly. He was inclined to think that Porlyusica was right about the damage being permanent. "It's fine for now, and it's probably better if you don't mess with it. Right now everything is balanced out, and if you start poking around then you might throw things out of whack. And then Magnolia would experience a sudden deep freeze. Let's leave well enough alone."

She wrung her hands together and stared at him anxiously. "Is it really that unstable?"

"Not at the moment, and it should continue stabilizing over time. I'm just not eager to go poking at something that could possibly destroy everything within several miles if anything goes wrong."

She and the others didn't look particularly reassured about that. Maybe he could have found a better way to put it, but it was too late now. He just shrugged and stared at Wendy until she sighed and got to work.

It was good to feel his aches and pains soothed away. He hadn't even realized that some of them were still there since he'd long since adjusted to the low-key, chronic pain level. It was all well and good until Wendy gently pressed her hand to his chest and he hissed in pain as his ribs flared up again.

"Are they still that sore?" the young dragon slayer asked with a frown.

"It's fine," Gray said, shrugging. "They were doing better, but I managed to aggravate them again last night."

"What were you doing to irritate them?"

 _Pushing a heavy sofa across half my apartment_.

"I just moved funny," he muttered.

She shrugged and used her magic to fix his ribs back up again, and he sighed in relief.

"Thanks. Ribs are the worst."

"Yeah." Wendy dropped her hand and stepped back. "Well, I healed everything that I found."

"Thanks," Gray said again, giving her a crooked grin. "I owe you one."

She smiled. "It's not a problem. I–"

"Oh great," Natsu interrupted, clapping Gray on the back. The ice mage scowled at him and stepped away. "And now that she healed everything, you can come on jobs with us!"

Gray's chest tightened uncomfortably and he looked away. "I told you, that has nothing to do with physical injuries. When I'm satisfied with my magic then I'll think about it."

He could practically feel his teammates exchanging looks. He knew that they hadn't forgotten what he'd said yesterday. If anything, they still weren't happy about it and were trying to not-so-subtly convince him to reconsider.

"I really think–" Lucy started.

"No. I'd rather do my training outside of a job setting, where I can't accidentally screw things up."

More silence.

"Actually, maybe that wouldn't be so bad," Erza said suddenly. "Why don't you train with Natsu? You two have been training partners before."

Gray scowled. "No. I'll do it on my own."

Maybe he was overreacting about his magic, but he didn't necessarily want to showcase how much damage had been done to it. And he definitely didn't want to look weak in front of his rival. No thank you. He was tired of being the weak link in the team, the liability, and he needed to fix that as soon as possible.

"But–"

" _No_."

Gray gave his friends a hard look. When they saw how serious he was they seemed to back down, but he could tell that this wasn't over. Eventually they'd start trying to get him to change his mind again, but for now he'd take advantage of any reprieve he could get.

So he grinned and switched his gaze to the other guild members who were watching the exchange.

"I don't know what these guys have been telling you, but if you want to hear the _real_ story, it's pretty damn good, if I do say so myself." He smirked over at Lucy and winked. "I'm sure Lucy will help me tell it."

She stared at him blankly for a moment, before understanding flashed in her eyes and she smiled. For the next hour or so, Gray and the team regaled the guild with the totally true story of their trial in the desert—gigantic poisonous snakes, rabid wolves, and blinding sandstorms included—and the fight against the powerful dark guild one hundred members strong, along with Gray's one-on-one battle with a bona fide desert god.

Gray and Lucy emerged as the natural storytellers of the group, with the rest of the team chiming in from time to time with a little less success. Erza was a bit too pragmatic and levelheaded, occasionally starting her contributions with something along the lines of, "Well actually, it happened more like this…" Happy tended to insert the most oddball and out-of-place comments, which were good for a laugh if nothing else. And Natsu, fool that he was, constantly interrupted to either make fun of Gray or make himself out to be the hero.

But in the end, Gray couldn't really want them to shut up. The odd hodgepodge of a story they ended up with was just so _them_ , and it was even more fun when everyone was involved.

Gray was in the middle of describing his heroic victory over the all-powerful god when the doors of the guild flew open with a loud bang. He glanced over automatically, and immediately lost his train of thought when he realized who was standing there.

"Lyon?" he asked in disbelief, tall tale forgotten. "What are you doing here?"

The older mage's features twisted into a ferocious scowl and he stalked over, his body radiating tension and fury. Gray unconsciously stepped backwards, eyeing his friend warily. He had no idea what was going on. Lyon stopped in front of him, stared at him for a moment, and then whacked him over the head.

"Ow!" Gray yelped, reeling backwards. "What the hell?"

"You were missing for weeks and didn't even bother telling me what was going on?" Lyon demanded, crossing his arms across his chest. "Seriously?"

"I don't see how it's any of your business," Gray grumbled mutinously. "And anyway, we were only gone for a few weeks. It's not like it's that unusual to be gone that long. What's your problem?"

"Yeah, well last time you disappeared, you went missing for seven years and I thought you were dead," Lyon snapped.

Gray winced. "I didn't–"

"Even your guildmates were starting to wonder where you'd gone off to. I only found out by accident, and it was your guild, not you, that bothered notifying me when you showed up again. And I didn't get any details, but what the hell are they talking about heat stroke and magic damage and comas?"

Gray hadn't honestly even considered telling Lyon about any of this, and he certainly hadn't expected him to have already found out about some of it. He doubted that Fairy Tail had really been all that worried, but he wasn't surprised that they'd at least been wondering what had happened. And if they'd been sending out feelers, it was possible that Lyon had managed to catch wind of it. Great.

"It's really not that big of a deal," Gray assured him, trying to smooth over ruffled feathers. "I was in a desert and the heat got to me a little, and then I got hit by some nasty magic. It took a little while to recover, but now I'm totally fine."

"Oh really?" Erza asked, nostrils flaring. "Because that's not how I remember it."

And then she proceeded to tell the whole story—the _real_ story this time—in excruciating detail, with input from the rest of the team. When Gray tried to contradict anything they said or play it down, he was told in no uncertain terms to be quiet if he wasn't going to be completely honest about everything. Eventually he gave up and sat back, arms crossed as he glowered at everyone.

"That was stupid of you," Lyon said finally, when the story was complete.

He didn't sound angry anymore though. Gray couldn't figure out what exactly he was feeling, but at least he'd mellowed out from earlier.

"I know," Gray grumbled.

Lyon stayed silent for a moment. "Is your magic really that messed up?"

"Of course not. It's not that big of a deal. I just want to be back at one hundred percent before I start doing jobs again."

Erza's face lit up suddenly, and Gray could practically see the lightbulb go off. "Hey, why don't you train with Lyon instead? He even uses the same magic as you, so he'd be the perfect training partner!"

Gray suppressed a wince. He didn't necessarily want Lyon to see his magic either. For one, he just didn't want to get teased about it or show off his weakness. Even more than that, the last thing he needed was for everyone to start freaking out and fussing over him again.

"No. He just came to make sure I was alright. Now that he knows I'm fine, he'll be going back to Lamia Scale. Relax, Erza, I'm perfectly capable of doing things on my own."

"Actually," Lyon interrupted, narrowing his eyes at Gray in a calculating fashion, "maybe that's not such a bad idea. I want to know how bad it is that you're freaking out so much."

"I'm not freaking out," Gray protested.

Lyon arched an eyebrow but didn't push it. "Well, since you kept me out of the loop this whole time, now you can't complain that I want to be in it." His face softened a little. "I'm very familiar with your magic. We'll figure this out."

Gray swallowed and looked away. Half of him wanted nothing to do with this plan because he still wanted to be able to take care of his own problems instead of being weak. The other half of him secretly wanted someone to help share the burden. He wavered indecisively.

"You _will_ work with someone," Erza said firmly. "If you don't want it to be us, then it needs to be Lyon. It's not that I don't understand your frustration, but we don't want you trying to struggle through it all alone again. Last time it almost killed you. And regardless, we'd all feel better if we knew that you were at least getting help from someone."

Gray sighed heavily. It was cold of her to play the 'it will make us worry less' card. And smart.

"You can stay in my apartment," he told Lyon finally. "I've got a couch. And I even moved it back into the living room, so you won't have to sleep in the kitchen."

Lyon frowned in confusion. "You keep your couch in the kitchen?"

"Not exactly." Gray gave Natsu a sidelong look.

The dragon slayer grinned triumphantly. "Ha! I knew you were more annoyed about that than you let on!"

"I tried to convince him not to mess everything up, I swear," Happy babbled.

Erza's face suddenly looked thunderous, and Gray hid a triumphant smirk of his own. Damn, he'd gotten good at figuring out how to manipulate things in order to get Natsu in trouble without actually doing it himself. Oh, he'd get Natsu back for this later, but for now he was content to let Erza do it for him.

"You _did_ wreck his apartment?" Erza demanded, drawing herself up to her full height as she glared daggers at the dragon slayer.

Natsu's eyes widened as he realized his mistake. "Huh? Did I say that? I meant–"

"He couldn't even walk a week ago, and you thought it was a good idea to move his furniture so that he'd have to fix it even though he had broken ribs and a sprained ankle and God knows what else? Friends shouldn't do that to friends!"

Gray's grin finally broke free. Man, this was good. But as much as he'd love to stay and enjoy the carnage he'd caused, he was ready to use this distraction as cover to escape. Glancing over at Lyon, he raised a questioning eyebrow and nodded towards the door. The older mage hesitated a moment before nodding his agreement and starting forward.

"Well, we're off to do some training then," Gray said cheerfully, making a beeline for the door.

"Good luck!" Lucy called.

"Lyon," Erza said. Gray winced, already able to tell that she was still in worry mode. "Make sure he eats something while you're out." She eyed Gray and added, "Now that you can keep food down, you don't have an excuse to starve yourself anymore."

Gray scowled at her. "I _have_ been eating. You've been watching me like a hawk for the past couple weeks—you _know_ my eating has gone back to mostly normal. Seriously, you need to stop fussing over me like I'm an invalid."

She sighed and deflated a little. "Sorry," she murmured. "I'm trying."

Gray felt the fire drain out of him as well. "I know," he said tiredly, shaking his head.

He guessed that it just went to show exactly how much he had terrified everyone, that they were still worrying over him more than they ever had for any of the other hundred times he'd almost gotten himself killed. He knew that they were trying to go back to normal, some with more success than others, but were having a hard time because they were in the habit of looking after him and because they were hyperaware that not everything was fixed yet. And as much as their prying and fussing annoyed him sometimes, he understood why they did it and still felt bad that he'd pushed them to that point.

"It's not that I—we—think you're weak or an invalid or whatever," Erza added, subdued. "We meant it when we said that you're one of the strongest people we know. And you're right, we should start treating you like it. If you work on strengthening up your magic so that you can come out on jobs with us again, we'll work on not fussing, alright?"

"Deal," he agreed, giving her a small smile to show that he wasn't really that upset. "And I might as well start now. See you guys later."

Waving goodbye, he headed out of the guild, Lyon following behind.

"Don't you dare start treating me like an invalid either," he warned.

Lyon eyed him up and down before nodding. "Of course not. Now show me this magic of yours. I'd say you could try to beat me, but you couldn't even do that back when your magic was at full strength, so…"

" _What?_ That's the most ridiculous thing you've ever said."

Which was true enough, but Gray wasn't entirely shocked when they found a secluded area outside of town and Lyon promptly beat him into the ground.

He scowled ferociously as he picked himself up off the ground for the seventh or eighth time. On the bright side, Lyon wasn't having an easy time of it either—Gray might be weaker, but he wasn't _weak_ —but that didn't take the sting out of it. He was hyperaware of everything that was just a little _off_ about his magic, and he knew that Lyon could pick up on at least some of it too. And even though the older mage was being a surprisingly good sport about not taunting him, the losses still made Gray want to grind his teeth together.

"I thought it would be worse with how upset you were," Lyon commented finally.

"I _said_ it wasn't that bad, didn't I?" Gray grumbled, dusting himself off.

"I'm still not sure why you're so adamant about this 'no job' thing," Lyon said, choosing his words carefully. "Yes, your magic is a little messed up, but you're still strong enough to handle most things. As long as you didn't go for jobs against super powerful dark guilds or something, you'd be fine."

Great, now he'd have to deal with Lyon harassing him about this too. Gray sighed and let his gaze drift away. If Lyon was going through all this effort to help, he at least deserved some semblance of an honest answer.

"What Erza didn't bother telling you is that people _did_ die," Gray said quietly, narrowing his eyes at the ground. "Two of the treasure hunters didn't make it out of that city, because I couldn't hold the shield up long enough for them to escape."

"You have a bad habit of blaming yourself for things that aren't really your fault," Lyon said after a moment, his voice sad.

"I didn't say it was my fault, did I? The point is that I was weaker than I should have been, and people got hurt because of it. I refuse to put my friends in that kind of situation again if I can help it. I need to get back whatever strength I can and then figure out my limitations regarding this magic container business. I need to know what I'm capable of so that I don't run into any unwelcome surprises later."

"She said that your magic container might heal–"

"It won't," Gray interrupted shortly. "I talked to Porlyusica this morning. The damage is permanent and I just need to figure out how to live with it. She says it shouldn't be a big deal in most situations, but I'd be more comfortable knowing what I can and can't do now. I don't–I don't know how bad it might get."

The silence dragged on for several seconds, before Lyon reached over and ruffled Gray's hair. The younger mage jerked away in surprise and scowled, but Lyon just grinned cheekily.

"Don't you worry, we'll have you back to normal in no time," he said cheerfully, though worry and melancholy still lurked in his eyes. "After all, I am the greatest of masters and you're lucky to have me."

Gray rolled his eyes, but then sighed. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"You didn't…" Lyon sighed and rubbed at his face wearily. "Look, I wasn't really that worried when I heard you'd been missing for a while. You were right about mages running off for weeks at a time, and sometimes jobs take longer than expected. But when I found out that you'd nearly died and all that… I guess I got retroactively worried. You know, I _am_ interested in your safety, and you should feel like you can come to me if something goes wrong."

Gray stared at him for a long moment and then looked away again. "Thank you."

"For what?"

For worrying about Gray like he was worth worrying over, for caring enough to hunt him down and make sure he was alright, for being willing to spend time and effort helping him deal with the aftermath, for not treating him like he was broken or a liability even though he felt like he was sometimes.

For all the same reasons, Gray realized ruefully, that he was thankful to his team for. He might sometimes get annoyed with the fussing and worrying, but maybe it was good to remember that he was thankful for it too, and thankful for his friends in general.

"I don't know," he said. "For everything."

* * *

Despite Gray's reservations, the whole training thing actually went pretty well. Lyon was good at keeping their relationship as normal and lighthearted as usual without too much nagging or taunting, regardless of his feelings on the matter. For the most part, he seemed content to let Gray figure out the rest of it on his own, although there was no doubt in the younger mage's mind that he would start becoming more nosy if the process took too long.

The team was taking more of a hands-off approach as well. Now that they weren't treating him like broken glass or bothering him about reconsidering his personal ban on jobs, he found it a lot less tiring to be around them. The main differences that remained were that Gray and Natsu had not fought in the week since returning from the desert—he was still wary of showing off his mutilated magic—and that the team hadn't been taking jobs.

That last issue couldn't go on indefinitely, so Gray was unsurprised to hear Lucy complaining about her rent one morning.

"And she told me that if I didn't start taking jobs soon, I wouldn't be able to pay my rent on time and she'd kick me out!" the blonde was saying indignantly. "Honestly! She's my landlady, not my keeper. And how does she know that I haven't been taking jobs, anyway? Is she stalking me or something?"

"Why don't you just go take a job then?" Gray asked, rolling his eyes.

Lucy started in surprise and looked away from Natsu and Happy to peer at him. "Because, um, well…"

"It's been a while. Get the team and go on a job."

"But–"

"I'll just be stuck here messing around with Lyon anyway, so it's not like I'd be sitting in here with you even if you stayed. Go get a job. I'll still be here when you come back."

The team's reluctance mirrored Gray's own, but eventually he convinced them to go. They kept shooting him unhappy looks, but he kept a lazy smile on his face until they'd left the guild. Then he felt it slide off his face as he stared blankly at the door they had just left by.

His heart clenched painfully, and he was surprised at how hard it was to watch them leave. He had thought that he was prepared for this, it really shouldn't be a big deal that they would be gone for a couple days without him, but… But he should be going with them, he should be part of the team, he should be included in their adventures. It felt like he was being left behind, a self-imposed exile, and it hurt.

He sensed rather than heard Lyon step up beside him. The two stared silently at the door for a moment, before Lyon reached down to take Gray's hand and pry his fist open, forcing the fingers to uncurl so that the nails were no longer digging into the palm. Gray frowned down in mild surprise, not having realized that he was clenching his fists so tightly.

Looking up, he met Lyon's eyes. The older mage looked torn, and for a second Gray thought he would say to go after the team anyway. He braced himself for that, not wanting to hear it, but Lyon just sighed and then smiled.

"Well, it's time for you to receive your daily instruction from your all-powerful master."

Gray rolled his eyes, but the words managed to drag a reluctant smile out of him. He heard the underlying message there: the more he trained, the sooner he would be able to go out with his friends again.

"Whatever."

"They'll wait for you, you know," Lyon added quietly.

"I know."

But they were only waiting because Gray was making them wait, and he couldn't hold them back forever. The faster he sorted himself out, the less they'd have to wait on him.

Despite that, Gray begged off the next few jobs as well. The team eventually stopped trying to convince him to go on every job with them, and had started taking shorter ones so that they were only gone for half a day or so before returning. They always told him about everything that happened and those stories made him laugh, but they also made his chest tighten uncomfortably because he wanted to be a part of them.

And he wasn't the only unhappy one. Yes, he knew that his friends weren't exactly on board with this, but he didn't realize exactly how bad things were until Happy came by one night to shove it in his face.

Gray was woken by a pounding on the door, and he reluctantly pulled himself out of bed and staggered out of his room, squinting blearily since Lyon had already flipped the light on and let in their visitor.

"What's up, Happy?" he mumbled past a yawn. Then realizing how weird it was that the Exceed had shown up at…he glanced at the clock…four in the morning, his tired fog evaporated. "What happened?"

Happy turned away from Lyon to look at Gray instead, and his eyes were wide and worried. "It's Natsu. He's really freaked out and won't calm down."

"Natsu?" Gray asked, frowning in bewilderment. "What the hell does Natsu have to be freaked out about at four in the morning?"

"Well, I guess it was a nightmare, but he won't tell me what it was about. I mean, he's been having nightmares lately, but they aren't usually this bad."

"Nightmares?" Gray pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. "Since when does he have nightmares?"

"Since he was worried that he got you killed out in the desert…"

Gray dropped his hands and winced. He threw a helpless look over at Lyon, but the older mage just shrugged and glanced away with a faint frown. The message of, _it's your problem—deal with it_ , could not be any clearer.

"Thanks for nothing," he muttered, before looking back to Happy. "I get why he might still be a little worried," he said, choosing his words carefully, "but this is also Natsu that we're talking about. Why is he still so upset over this? He's usually good at dropping things right away."

Yes, he had been able to tell that something was still bothering Natsu and he had a pretty good idea of what it was, but the dragon slayer had mostly gone back to normal anyway so Gray had assumed that he'd get over it quickly. Then again, the girls hadn't quite managed to bounce back from their mother-henning ways yet either. Gray could understand that the incident had shaken everyone and probably included a guild component, but he wouldn't expect everyone to still be so worked up about it, especially not Natsu.

"Usually it's not so bad and it doesn't bother him all the time anymore," Happy said sadly, tail drooping. "And he plays it off when it does. I don't know why he's so upset this time, but he won't talk about it and I thought that maybe it would help if you went over… You know, to remind him that you're okay now."

Gray sighed heavily, not honestly wanting to do anything of the sort. Heart-to-hearts were definitely _not_ his forte, and definitely not with Natsu of all people.

But he also couldn't just leave Natsu like that, even if he _was_ a fire-breathing idiot.

"I'm going," Gray said, heading for the door with clipped strides. "Why don't you stay here, Happy."

"But–"

"At least until I'm through with him. Make Lyon entertain you, since he isn't doing anything useful anyway."

"I _was_ sleeping," Lyon grumbled.

"And now you're not. But that's not a bad idea, to be honest. I don't know how long I'll be. Happy, you're welcome to share the couch with Lyon if it takes me too long."

"What? I don't want to share with a cat!"

"Suck it up," Gray said flatly, stepping outside and shutting the door on Lyon's protests.

He hurried through the silent streets, knowing that Happy wouldn't have come unless Natsu was really messed up. He made it to his friend's house in record time and hesitated outside, taking a deep breath to steel himself. It was really damn tempting to turn around and not deal with this bullshit, but Gray also felt partly responsible for whatever was wrong with Natsu.

Sighing, he slipped inside, thankful that Happy hadn't locked the door. The room was swathed in shadows, but luckily Gray had some idea of the layout. He headed towards the bedroom, cursing quietly under his breath as he stumbled into and stepped on a whole assortment of random crap. Honestly, could Natsu not clean his own damn house? It was hard enough to find a clear walkway in the daylight, much less in the dark.

But eventually Gray made it to the other side of the room and his groping hands found the doorknob. He dithered a second longer, the silence heavy and oppressive. Then he heard a slight sniffling from inside and pushed his way in before he even realized what he was doing.

There was some faint moonlight streaming in the window that helped him pick his way across the room more easily this time, but it also illuminated Natsu huddled up in the corner. Why he was on the floor instead of in his bed was anyone's guess, but his hunched shoulders and face buried in his knees didn't bode well. Gray ghosted over with a quiet sigh and crouched down in front of his friend.

"What's up, flame brain?"

Natsu's head jerked up and he stared at Gray with wide, tear-filled eyes. "What…? Where the hell did you come from?"

"Happy told me I should come over."

Natsu blinked at him for a moment longer and then scowled, rubbing the tear stains off his face with choppy motions radiating irritation. "Where is that stupid fur ball?"

"I suggested that he stay at my place for a while," Gray replied, one corner of his mouth drifting upwards into a sardonic half-smile even though he was only partly amused. "At least until you've lost the urge to kill him."

"Good call," Natsu said with a strangled laugh, wrapping his arms around his knees and looking away. "You can go. He was just overreacting."

"Uh-huh. You wanna tell me what you're so upset over?"

"I'm not upset," Natsu snapped, scowl returning full force.

"Uh-huh. You wanna tell me what you're so upset over?"

Natsu glowered, eyes narrowing. "Get out of my house. You're a…trespasser. Yeah. Stop trespassing, ice princess."

Not rising to the bait, Gray sighed and shifted so that he was sitting next to Natsu instead of crouching in front of him. He hardly expected Natsu to make this easy, but although he didn't really care about the mysterious nightmare, he _did_ care about the underlying issue.

"It's not your fault," he said, leaning his head back against the wall and staring blankly ahead at the shadows cloaking the other side of the room.

"Of course it's not my fault!" Natsu growled. "It's _your_ fault. You were the one being stupid, the one hiding things, the one pulling stupid sacrificial bullshit. And then you even had the nerve to _laugh_ , like it was _funny_. Well, I'm glad you think it's funny, asshole."

There was a long pause, interrupted only by Natsu's harsh breathing.

"It's not your fault," Gray repeated finally.

"I know it's not–"

Gray looked back over, eyes solemn. "It isn't your fault, Natsu."

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, before Natsu swallowed and looked away, rubbing at his eyes again.

"You were mad at me for blaming myself for the treasure hunters," Gray said evenly, keeping his unwavering gaze fixed on his friend. "Kind of hypocritical for you to blame yourself for dumb crap too."

"…I know."

"I've been able to tell that it still bothers you from time to time, but you _have_ been getting better about it. So, you wanna tell me what else it is that's upsetting you? I'm not a mind reader, and it wouldn't do me any good even if I was since you've only got ash for brains anyway. Happy woke me up at four o'clock in the morning and sent me all the way over here, so you'd damn well better start talking. I'm giving up perfectly good sleeping time for this."

Natsu laughed despite himself, his face lighting up for a moment before it fell again and he dropped his chin onto his knees. Gray waited quietly for a few minutes, but he wasn't a patient person. He was starting to consider harassing Natsu some more, but then the dragon slayer finally sighed.

"I didn't mean for any of it to happen," Natsu mumbled, his voice quiet enough that it was almost swallowed up by the silence.

"I know."

"I just wanted to annoy you a bit."

"I know."

"Because you're annoying and you deserve to be annoyed back."

"…I'll give that one to you just this once, but only because you're upset."

"I didn't realize the heat was getting to you that badly."

"Of course not. I didn't want you to."

"And that stupid challenge…"

"Don't flatter yourself. I didn't need your permission to hide things."

"And then there were all the seizures and you stopped breathing and wouldn't wake up."

"But I _did_ wake up. Look, I'm even stuck being awake now, thanks to you and Happy."

"And then it was messing with your magic and your magic container…"

"Again, that had nothing to do with you. That was the amulet."

"And it might be permanent…"

"It's really not that big of a deal."

"And now you won't even come on jobs with us anymore."

"That's temporary."

"I miss the team." Natsu's voice wavered dangerously, and Gray felt a sinking sensation. "You won't let us help you–"

"Lyon's helping."

"–and you won't come out on jobs–"

"I'm telling you, that's temporary."

"–and you haven't come with us in _forever_ , and it's like there is no team anymore."

"Of course there is."

"I didn't mean to ruin the team either."

"You didn't–" Gray broke off and sighed, rubbing at his face tiredly. "Natsu, none of that is your fault. The heat stroke is mine, because I knew better and screwed it up anyway. Everything with my magic and, by extension, with not wanting to go out with the team, is the amulet's. I'm not trying to avoid you or break up the team or anything like that. It's not about that."

Natsu glanced over. His eyes were shimmering wetly in the moonlight, but at least he wasn't actually crying anymore. That was disconcerting as hell.

"Then what _is_ it about?" he asked flatly.

Gray dropped his gaze and stayed silent for a long moment. "I'm scared," he said to the floor.

"You're… _What_?"

"My magic isn't quite right anymore," he mumbled, narrowing his eyes as he continued to stare down sightlessly at the floorboards. "It's getting better, but it's not there yet. I've always been able to count on it before, but… It failed me in that desert. I made _water_ , Natsu. I laughed, but I don't think it's funny. I couldn't even hold the shield for long enough."

"Gray, you'd been dying of heat stroke."

"Yes, yes, part of it is that I was weak. I could handle that if it wasn't for this crap with the amulet. I can feel the damage it has done. My magic has been getting stronger, but it's not back to normal. And this magic container business scares the shit out of me, to be honest."

"Sara said–"

"It's not going to magically fix itself. I talked to Porlyusica the day after we got back. And you know what? Everyone keeps saying that it shouldn't be an issue unless I have to use up all my magic, but those situations _do_ happen. What do you think happened in that city? If we faced that amulet now, what am I supposed to do?

"Last time it was the treasure hunters that died because my magic failed. I don't want it to be one of you next time. Being weaker than normal and having to figure out this stuff with my container… I don't want to go back on team jobs until I figure out my new limits, because I don't want it to be one of you next time."

The pair sat in silence for a minute.

"You should have just told us," Natsu said quietly.

"Mm."

"You know Erza's going to flip out when she realizes you've been hiding things again."

Gray sighed. "Don't you see how the girls still can't keep themselves from fussing over me? How worried Happy still is? How dumb you're being about blaming yourself for the stupid job? This whole situation really rattled everyone. Do you really think that you all need to be worrying about just one more thing? I didn't want to drag you into this side of things too."

Natsu hesitated. "You shouldn't have to worry alone either though, yeah? I mean… We'd rather know what's bothering you so that we can help. We aren't the only ones who are allowed to be worried."

"I know, but it's hard."

"If you want us to not always worry, then you'll have to start telling us things. You know we mostly worry because we don't know if you'll tell us when something is wrong. And by 'we', I mean the girls and Happy, obviously."

"Obviously. Look, I know that. I'm working on it. I'm telling you now, aren't I?"

"I guess it's a start."

"Yeah." Gray sighed and tried to think of a way to resolve this whole situation already because it was really awkward. "Where's that necklace I gave you?"

"Where's the…what?"

"Don't tell me you lost it already."

"Of course not," Natsu said quickly, his surprise melting into more mild puzzlement. "It's over on the table somewhere."

He motioned vaguely at the bedside table and Gray pulled himself to his feet, dreading having to dig through Natsu's mounds of junk. Thankfully, he spotted a glint of silver quickly and snatched up the necklace from where it was perched precariously on top of the junk heap. Then he went back over and sat down directly in front of Natsu, meeting his bewildered friend's eyes steadily.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, tilting his palm forward to let the chain tangle in his fingers.

"Um… A necklace?"

"It's a promise," Gray said with a slight shake of his head. "A promise that I don't blame you for what happened, that we're still friends no matter what we manage to screw up. A promise that I'll be coming back to the team as soon as I feel like I'm ready, and that next time I'll tell you when something is seriously wrong. A promise that everything is going to be okay and we'll find a way to work things out in the end, just like we always do. A promise that you can't get rid of me, not even when you're being a stupid fool."

He reached out to grasp one of Natsu's hands, placing the necklace in his palm and curling his fingers around it. Then he gave his friend a conspiratorial grin and a wink. "But if anyone else asks, it's just a necklace."

Natsu blinked at him blankly for a moment and then started laughing. Gray began to relax, thinking that maybe the crisis was averted and he could go back to sleep already, but then Natsu's laughs started turning into sobs as he curled into himself.

"Oh God, do you really have to cry again?" Gray asked apprehensively. "This is weird, flame brain. Like, really weird."

" _I'm_ weird?" Natsu choked out. "You're the one making weird promises."

Gray scowled. "Well, if you don't like them, then–"

Natsu leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Gray, who stiffened, mind grinding to a halt.

"Um…" Gray hugged him back awkwardly, peering down in bemusement at the pink head pressed into his chest. "Must've been one hell of a nightmare."

"One hell of a conversation," Natsu muttered.

Gray didn't know what his problem was. Sighing, he wriggled around so that he was leaning against the wall, and waited for Natsu to get over himself and let go. He was starting to wonder what was taking the idiot so long when he heard a loud snore.

"…Seriously?"

There was no response. Gray groaned and rested his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as he considered his options. He deigned to stay a human pillow for a few minutes, but then a smirk worked its way across his face and he carefully detached himself from his sleeping friend, fetching a blanket and pillow from the bed for Natsu.

Creeping out of the room, he closed the door quietly behind him and flipped on the light, his eyes roaming over the carnage. Normally Gray would annoy Natsu in ways that required far less effort, but after the idiot had trashed his apartment the other day…

Gray got to work.

* * *

The morning after had been a glorious affair. Only Natsu would be outraged that someone had cleaned for him. The resulting tantrum had the desired effect of smoothing out any awkward edges from the night before, and Gray greatly enjoyed watching Natsu go on a rampage to wreck everything. It was a little painful to see all his hard work ruined within minutes, but it was gratifying to hear Natsu complain about how he could no longer find anything. As if he could have found anything in that mess before anyway. Idiot.

In the end, Gray was satisfied because their nighttime chat was never brought up again. Even better, Natsu was acting a lot more normal and didn't seem quite as bothered by Gray's continued refusal to go on jobs. Which wasn't to say that everyone was suddenly happy about the situation, but at least it was better than before.

But Gray still wasn't ready, and a few days later he found himself watching the team leave on yet another job. They hadn't asked him to come this time, but they kept sneaking pleading glances at him until they were out the door.

"You know, your magic is fine," Lyon said. "You could go with them."

That was true. Gray might be overly cautious, but he knew that the strict training regimen had quickly brought his magic back up to its pre-desert levels. And yet…

"It's not enough," he mumbled.

There was a long pause, and Lyon studied him with knowing eyes. "Is this about strengthening your magic or your confidence?"

As ridiculous as it sounded, Gray was still concerned about how his magic would react in a dangerous situation. It should be fine, shouldn't be weakened or start melting for no good reason or anything like that, but there was that nagging worry in the back of his mind that it might fail him when he needed it the most. Again. And that didn't even include his worries about his magic container, which could potentially break and explode at any time.

His magic had been reacting perfectly during training, but that was just training. In a real fight, could he count on it? Or was there still something wrong with it underneath the surface? Maybe they were silly, unfounded fears, but they were there all the same.

Gray opened his mouth, but didn't answer immediately. He didn't want to admit to that.

"Alright," Lyon said after a moment, his eyes much too understanding. "Let's go build that up then."

Really, Gray didn't know what he'd do without him right now.

But even Lyon's patience had its limits. It had been nearly two and a half weeks, and Gray could tell that his excuses were wearing thin and his time running out.

He knew that the team was discussing taking another job, an argument springing up between Natsu and Lucy about which one to choose. He was steadfastly maintaining a conversation with Lyon anyway, pretending not to notice the hopeful looks his friends kept sending his way.

Lyon wasn't up for pretending today though. "Your magic is ready, and so are your friends," he said, his voice low but firm. "Are you?"

Gray chewed on his lip absently as he looked back at his bickering teammates. It was such a familiar scene—Natsu trying to convince everyone to take some stupid job while Lucy insisted that another one would be better, Happy throwing in snarky remarks to make fun of anyone and everyone, Erza quickly losing patience and looking like she was five seconds away from putting her foot down. Gray was supposed to be there too. He was sitting not five feet away, but he might as well have been on a different planet.

He wanted to go back, but was he ready? Well, he was worried that his magic might let him down in a fight, wasn't he?

"Well, I suppose there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" he asked, his lips curling into a sly smirk as his gaze caught on the gesticulating dragon slayer.

Leaving Lyon behind, Gray stood and stepped over to Natsu. "Hey, flame brain."

Natsu frowned in bewilderment and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Gray punched him in the face, sending him flying back several feet. He gaped at Gray for a moment but then scowled, springing to his feet and charging at his rival. Despite the glower, Gray could sense the excitement coming off him in waves. It had been a long time since they'd had a good brawl.

"And just what do you think you're doing, ice princess?"

Gray snorted and didn't bother responding. Instead, he summoned up his magic and sent it Natsu's way. Natsu yelped in surprise but recovered quickly, grinning and sending fire back. He was obviously pleased to see the ice mage using his magic again.

As the two friends fought, Gray quickly slipped back into a familiar rhythm. His body and magic responded perfectly, nothing felt like it was about to snap in his chest, and it was almost soothing how at ease he was. It felt _good_. When he wasn't worrying about his magic failing or his container breaking or him becoming a liability, he could lose himself in the fight and trust that he was strong and capable and could do what needed to be done.

A particularly well-aimed blast of ice hit Natsu in the chest and sent him stumbling into the wall, where he slid to the ground with a groan. Gray eyed him warily, knowing that this fight wasn't over unless his rival was choosing to discontinue it. But Natsu didn't resume the fight, just studied Gray silently.

His scarf had been dislodged a little in the melee, and Gray noticed a glint of silver peeking out from beneath. Natsu followed his gaze and scowled, flushing slightly as he readjusted the scarf to hide the chain again. Gray grinned crookedly.

Natsu smiled back a little reluctantly, but then pushed himself to his feet and glowered at Gray, although it didn't quite hide the hope. "What the hell was that for, ice block?"

What indeed.

Gray half turned, letting his gaze sweep over the faces of his teammates and friends, seeing the sudden hope in their expressions. He let his eyes rest on Lyon for a moment as well, and the older mage gave him a half-smile and nodded slightly.

Gray took a deep breath, considering his options. He could still back out, say that he just wanted a fight and nothing more. He could keep running away for a little while longer.

Or he could decide to stop worrying so much and just have a little faith in himself. He could still feel the insecurities nibbling away at the edges of his mind, but he supposed that it was his choice whether or not he gave in to them.

He wavered a moment longer, but then allowed himself a small smile and turned back to Natsu.

"What were you thinking, trying to convince them to take such a stupid job?" he asked, the grin finally breaking loose. "Did you forget that it's my turn to pick?"

* * *

 **Note: Lyon was honestly not supposed to be here at all, but I decided that his presence actually worked well with some of the themes I've been using. Plus, I'd already tried several other versions of the ending and none of them worked for me. Wasn't going to bother bringing up Natsu's issues again either, but once I made some important connections it was hard to leave it out.**

 **Anyway, this is the end : ) Thanks to everyone who stuck with the story the whole way through. It's a little sad to leave this verse behind, but it also feels really damn good to finally have it all edited and posted XD**

 **emmahoshi: I was having a hard time justifying Gray not going to Porlyusica (it's okay, does anyone really know how to spell her name? I've seen several variations lol). I have a tendency to get overexcited and start talking fast and skipping details when telling a story, so I feel your pain, ha ha. Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking about a baby sequel. I have some idea of how it could work, but I don't have the details worked out yet. But I make no promises—it may or may not happen. Ha, didn't want too much drama in the last chapter XD Ah, I love animals. At one point I had four cats, but now I have two dogs. I used to be scared of dogs when I was younger though :3 Lol, you passed your spelling test this time—A+. Yeah, I didn't think Natsu would be entirely over it yet and I figured it might be worse since Gray wasn't going on team jobs and was worried about permanent damage to his magic and such, but it was just hard to address that in a way that Natsu would allow. He's a stubborn little brat XD Aw, thanks :3 It's been fun. See you next story : )**


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